Crisis communications expert Peter Wilkinson examines SA premier Peter Malinauskas’ stunning election victory at the weekend, and finds a comms philosophy finely tuned to appeal to the Australian character.
The author – Peter Wilkinson
The South Australian election shows how leaders can use communication to draw voters together rather than turn people against one another.
The thundering victory of Peter Malinauskas and the Labor Party in the South Australian election has foundations in economic and general competence of government.
But what intersected with voters as they prepared to vote was the way ‘Mali’ communicates, and his messages.
Leading into the South Australian election, the incumbent premier managed to craft a message that steered away from too many specific issues, and dealt mainly with himself as a person, his values and a desirable and recognisable Aussie culture.
His novel acceptance speech, poem included, on Saturday night spoke to the same. It’s worth a listen: https://lnkd.in/gUriiUfx
He said, in part (starting at 13 mins):
“To my colleagues: Although this is a historic result, although it is the best result our party has ever achieved, it’s very important that no one confuses tonight’s result as adulation. Instead, we should see it as only being an invitation, an invitation to continue to work our guts out for the next four years.”
Why is the speech a great piece of communication?
In client media training, we talk about three sets of messages which can broadly be classified as:
– The incident message – the issue in front of us;
– The company message – the organisation’s guiding philosophy;
– The personal message – the beliefs/behaviours that define the leader, including, in this case, bravely, but effectively, a Henry Lawson poem, “The Duty of Australians” (at 16:20).
The Duty of Australian
In the Malinauskas speech, he hit all three, but his personal message via the poem hit home. Good leaders, in defining their own philosophy, draw in followers who see an aspirational set of values. For Malinauskas that’s hard work, unity in diversity, care, and compassion.
And a love of all that is Aussie. It’s how a lot of us like to see ourselves, regardless of background.
It reminds me of the Pew Research results published earlier this month (and in two posts prior to this one) in which Australians rated our morals and ethics highly, compared to 24 other nations.
As well, he’s pragmatically set himself against the left of his own party, as evidenced by his position on nuclear energy and being one of the few Australian public figures to take a stance on the Adelaide Writer’s Week controversy and the disinvitation of Palestine activist Randa Abdel-Fattah.
I’ve often wondered if a leader who communicates a strong principle-led vision influences people’s attitudes towards each other?
What we do know is that when a leader is overtly driven by a belief in ‘what is right’, Australians will give that person breathing room, and excuse them for making mistakes; think Hawke and Howard.
The Malinauskas win in South Australia isn’t just political, it’s a lesson in how to communicate: Start with your values and principles, and beckon people in rather than cut them out.
