‘Luxonisms’ and the art of public speaking

Friday, 29 November 2024

The Annual Report is a first-year stock take of this Government, analysing everything from policy to decision-making, as well one-on-one interviews with the party leaders.

In the era of mass communications, politicians are often remembered more for what they say than what they do.

From Winston Churchill, who roused a nation with the power of his words (“We shall fight them on the beaches”), to Donald Trump whose skill at a soundbite helped him gain his followers (“They’re eating the cats …”), they’re nothing if not memorable.

Great orators are not just good at delivering a prepared speech with empathy and authenticity but are quick witted enough to deliver just the right amount of retort at the perfect moment.

Former prime minister David Lange will always be remembered for his repartee. His comment at an Oxford Union debate on nuclear weapons to American evangelist Jerry Falwell - “and I'm going to give it to you if you hold your breath just for a moment … I can smell the uranium on it as you lean towards me” - became famous.

Where does prime minister Christopher Luxon sit in the crowded field of memorable oration? And does it have any bearing on his political future?

“If it was … Toastmasters, I would tell him to go back and do the same year again because he needs to keep trying harder,” rules Janet Wilson, PR expert and former National Party chief press secretary to Judith Collins and Sir John Key. Wilson is also a Post columnist.

Wilson says the prime minister has a verbal style that is totally out of touch, more fit for the boardroom than the country.

Luxon, the former corporate chief executive turned prime minister, often talks about the importance of communication. Yet his own style, polished but formulaic, has drawn criticism for lacking the very spark that defines great oratory.

Where Winston Churchill provoked with plainspoken conviction, commentators say Luxon’s reliance on corporate jargon and rehearsed phrases leave his audience unmoved.

The prime minister’s oratory and verbal mannerisms include corporate speak, cliches, and various Luxonisms that get him through media stand-ups, tough questions in the House, and important speeches.

“Well, what I’d just say to you”, is a classic that Heather Kavan, a speech writing expert, says translates to “no time for deep analysis and complexities.”

The PM often prefaces his answer with a “no offence”, or in his words, “well no disrespect…”. This means, says Kavan, “I’m about to say something hurtful, and you won’t be able to accuse me of disrespect.”

Luxon often returns to the old faithful, which seems to come naturally to many politicians before him, including “let me be clear”, a Barack Obama favourite, and “at the end of the day”, a Sir John Key top pick.

Janet Wilson says Luxon’s vagaries - too many optimisers, and too many outcomes - is symptomatic of using tricky language for simple ideas.

“I think it is a function of being in the corporate world but it's a function also of intellectual laziness, where they dress these words up because they think it makes them look bigger and it puffs them up from their own estimation. I think that's frankly rubbish, absolutely rubbish.”

Wilson thinks Luxon is aware of this, but isn’t doing enough to crack it.

When Luxon was accused of being out of touch with New Zealanders, he recently told broadcaster Guyon Espiner, 'Well, I'd just say to you, I think I am [not], because I'm out and about talking to New Zealanders.

“I've done that right from when I've come to politics, it's been a belief system of mine … talk to the customer, to the public, to the people, the voters, and actually find out what their concerns are, and their concerns are being really played back, and we're delivering against those.'

Hang on. “Customers”?

“Yes,” Luxon admitted at the time. “I need to work harder on less corporate speak, but that's who I have been.”

The PM, occasionally, is frank - but perhaps not getting the result he’d hoped. “I get it, I’m wealthy,” instantly became a headline. So too, did, “I’m entitled”. And maybe in a bid to avoid being seen as out of touch, Wellington has become the “beltway” or “bubble”.

No matter the time or place, he often finds a way to bring it back to business. Even at Waitangi, Luxon managed to weave in business and improving the economy.

But he has had some wins - in what will likely be one of his most important speeches he will give as prime minister, Luxon’s national apology to survivors of abuse in state care, listened to across the country, was lauded by commentators - one said it was the best speech he’d given yet.

On this, Janet Wilson agrees - but Luxon likely can’t claim all the credit. “This would have been a speech that would have been written for him by a good speech writer. I could see the art of the narrative quite clearly throughout the speech, but also I could hear Luxon’s sincerity and authenticity coming through. That's what worked for him.”

It was also absent of his typical clichés (“boiling the ocean”, “chunking it down”, “big rocks”). Repeating those phrases that are found in self-help or motivational management books became an easy target across the House in 2022, when former Finance Minister Grant Robertson said, “Christopher Luxon came to the House with a speech that could've been written by any National Party leader since the 1990s. He came here with the energy of Tony Robbins on Valium, a corporate life coach with nowhere else to go.”

Other ‘Luxonisms’ include “well again” when it was never said in the first place, or “well there are two things, first of all..” but then never hearing the second.

Wilson says that politicians learn the art of the transition, and then rely on the same transitional phrases which become building blocks for them.

Former PM Dame Jacinda Ardern, “particularly if she was riled about something, she would say ‘let me be clear’.”

But how critical is oratory?

“Important, but not very important,” says Wilson.

She points to Obama, who had “soaring rhetoric” that didn’t prove to do much for the results for the American people.

“But good rhetoric can get to hearts and minds in a way that bad rhetoric never will and here's the problem for Luxon, his continuing use of corporate speak becomes a barrier between him and the people he's trying to reach”.

“He really needs to change his communication style if he's going to be able to convince them of anything, because politics is the art of the soft sell, not the hard sell, it's the art of persuasion and if you haven't got the verbal skills to be able to do that, you're never going to be able to achieve that goal.”

But Wilson says she doesn’t know if Luxon has the will to want to change.

“Politics is all about the value of the application of your own value system to what you are doing. It has to be because if it's not, you shouldn't be in politics.”