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If Brian Loughnane and Peta Credlin don’t act quickly, they will be responsible for costing Tony Abbott and the Coalition the election. The impression is growing that Abbott has been spooked by the all-singing, all-dancing acts of the resuscitated Kevin Rudd, so clearly designed to neutralise all the negatives of Labor and its polices that Abbott so successfully exposed. Now he appears unsure which way to turn, mesmerised like a giant ‘roo in the hunte’s spotlight.
Abbott already suffered a deficiency in popular personal support. That didn’t matter while the government floundered under Gillard’s burden of guilt, its policy confusions, and the debt and deficits of economic mismanagement. But the slogans and mantras that were so effective against these political disabilities just won’t work now.
A turning point came with Abbott’s interview on the ABC’s 7.30 on Monday, just as polls were flagging the resurgence in Labor fortunes. Nobody could accuse Leigh Sales of being tough or unfair this time, but the interview was a disaster. F Abbott was on the ropes nine-tenths of the time; only in the last sector did he come to life and break out of the unconvincing defensive loser mould.
This morning I sent his office the following message:
“Dear Mr Abbott,
I was really looking forward to a powerful performance on 7.30 on Monday night, but what I saw and heard was profoundly disappointing for a change from the Rudd regime.
Forty years ago I trained chairmen and senior executives of major Australian public companies in media strategy and interviewing. In the Sales interview you broke just about every rule of good interview technique that I taught.
Repetition does not equal reinforcement. Saying things twice suggests that you haven’t got another thought.
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Referral to past authority is no substitute for personal responsibility. It is profoundly irritating to be told endlessly that Howard stopped the boats when a decade later viewers want to see a leader take ownership of the issue and explain how and why in personally persuasive language.
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Starting every answer with “Well…” may be intended as conciliatory and persuasive, but immediately establishes the interviewee as evasive and defensive.
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Body language speaks volumes. Leaning forward, staring intently at the interviewer, seriously unsmiling are counter-productive poses. They signal internal tension, discomfort, even fear. Relaxation conveys confidence, control.
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Write out 100 times: Questions do not have to be answered. Questions are opportunities for the interviewee to say what he wants to say about or around the subject. I used to describe questions as arrows that can be caught and turned around. Don’t take every question as a literal demand. That makes you appear weak, defensive and subservient.
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Know in advance what you want to get across, and don’t let the interviewer prevent you. Go into every interview with at least two points or policies you intend to emphasise, and learn to bend the questioner to your will.
And another thing….on media strategy: Stop putting on silly clothes and pretending to bake pies. Political leaders visit factories, they don’t join the production line. Especially when the PM is talking big ideas and national schemes, that just comes across as childish. Who could it possibly influence?”
There was much more to be said about that interview, but unless the leader’s staff can take him in hand for some serious media training, Tony Abbott will continue to blow it. His stunts – and his many good public works – have not convinced voters of his humanity, or more important, his ability to develop and convey good economic policies.
Faced with the return of a political chameleon whose forte has always been an ability to fool the public with the legerdemain of populist personality politics, Tony Abbott has a few brief months, at most, to learn to think deeply and speak clearly and positively.
Geoffrey Luck worked for the ABC for 26 years as a senior reporter and news editor
