Tony Abbott as a Communicator–Critical Analysis
INTRODUCTION
Observe the world’s greatest leaders and you’ll find them to be brilliant speakers. One can never achieve a status in public if he isn’t good at stirring the people’s emotions and aspirations. This calls for great interpersonal communication skills; both verbal and non-verbal. Other pre-requisites include great contextual and situational awareness, excellent listening skills and astute in observing the environment and audiences. Good communicators are smart enough to mold their message entirely in accordance with the audiences’ needs and expectations.
In this composition we would critically analyze ‘Tony Abbott’s – Debate Closing Remarks’ and highlight Mr. Abbott’s interpersonal skills and communication techniques that he has practiced during the speech. We would acutely observe all the verbal and non-verbal aspects of his communication, plus elaborate the traits that make him so well at speaking in public.
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BREIF PROFILE OF THE SPEAKER
The main speaker of the speech specimen is Tony Abbott – the man under our critical examination. He was born in 1957 to an Australian family. He graduated from the University of Sydney, followed by Oxford University where he studied politics and philosophy as a Rhodes Scholar (Marr 2012, pp. 7-9). He also trained as a Catholic priest – this is what I would attribute his effective and powerful communication style to. Later, he began his political career on national level as a district representative (1994-1996); Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (1996–98), Employment minister between 1998 and 2001, and as minister for health and ageing in 2003. He was later elected as the Leader of Liberal Party of Australia and was famously known as the ‘Leader of Opposition’ until 2013, when he took the office of Prime Minister.
CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND OF THE SPEECH
Mr. Tony Abbott delivered the selected speech before 2013 elections, on the occasion of a debate between ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and himself as the opposition leader. This third election debate was held at Rooty Hill RSL located in Western Sydney on August 28th, 2013 (Walker 2013). Both the politicians appeared on the people’s forum to present their positive plan regarding the future of Australia. Their audience was a group of 50 undecided Australian voters who were there to take up the side of any one of those leaders. The audience was allowed to randomly throw questions; plus the leaders were also being offended by each other very frequently (Gordon 2013). In short, it was a one on one debate between the two leaders which was a part of their election campaign.
COMMUNICATION EXPERTISE DEMONSTRATED DURING THE SPEECH
Tony Abbott has adopted an impressive combination of verbal and non-verbal traits during the speech. He has demonstrated great confidence and a rational attitude. His words portrayed his determination and fortitude. He is a man who does not shy from a fight (Wells 2009, p. 12). He is orthodox and straight-forward (Marr 2012, p. 35). Thus, at the very beginning of his closing comments he boldly accused Mr. Rudd of making blunt efforts towards attacking him instead of convincing the Australian voters. He constantly emphasized on the good he would bring to the people of Australia and fearlessly denied all the accusations from his opponent.
VERBAL COMMUNICATION TRAITS
Verbal communication is the very basic form of communication that we practice in our daily lives. It involves words from different languages that we can speak and understand. Verbal communication may be written or oral. The selected specimen is a debate therefore it mainly involves spoken communication.
Language and Choice of Words
While scrutinizing the verbal aspects of the speech, I would mention the language and the choice of words made by Mr. Abbott first. Language is the basic subjective tool that one uses to exchange ideas and feelings. It reflects and shapes one’s perception and thoughts (Wood 2012, p. 94). Here, Mr. Abbott has used formal English to convey his message on a formal public forum. He has used solid words; appealing sentences and promising verbs. Throughout the speech, he has used the word ‘WE’ in place of first person. He was here speaking on the behalf of his party which depicts his team based working spirit.
Structure
Structure of the message is as important for an oral message as in a written one. A well-structured message shows how creatively the speaker has organized all the relevant material to attain the highest possible degree of clarity (Hargie 2010, pp. 221-222). The specimen is the conclusion of the whole debate; therefore, Mr. Abbott has summed up all the points that he wanted his audience to remember. The words ‘firstly’ and ‘secondly’ illustrate the streamlined framework of his speech meant to deliver clarity, fluency and organized content.
Vocalics
Vocalics also know as paralanguage, act complementary to verbal communication. They include elements like volume, pitch, rate, cadence and articulation. All these elements in combination define how well the message has been presented by the speaker (Hargie 2010, pp. 79-80). Mr. Tony has managed to constantly alter his speech rate and intensity. While giving important details on ‘women rights’ and ‘making promises’, he slowed down whereas, he quickly went on over less important issues like thanking the host. A pattern is clearly visible that relates Mr. Abbott’s rhythmic pauses, volume and slow rate of the speech to his intention of gaining the listeners’ attention and imprinting his message into their minds. He increased his volume where ever he wished to emphasize his words. For instance, “EACH and EVERY WOMAN in the workforce will be better off” (the capitalized letters show the increase of volume). Here, I would like to mention the reason behind his emphasis on women rights. Mr. Abbott was recently accused of misogyny – hatred for women, by Ms. Gillard in the parliament. On this public forum, he has tried to highlight his concern for women and mention the plans he has made for women’s well-being. Another example is “Mr. Rudd stop trying to ESCAPE people”. This volume increase has reminded the audience of Mr. Rudd’s very prominent strategy of avoiding the questions that he faced from the audience. A news article (RAO 2013) quotes Evan Spiros, a conciliation voter says, “Rudd seemed to struggle a little and ducked and wove questions in between talking over the moderator.”
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION TRAITS
Non-verbal encompasses all forms of communications other than words. This may include the speaker’s body language, kinesics, oculesics, proxemics, haptics and attire. Non-verbal communication cannot be separated from verbal communication or we can say that it cannot be examined in isolation. Non verbal communication is generally perceived to be more reliable, continuous and a way of expressing cultural values (Wood 2012, pp. 120-123). Our non-verbal traits strengthen our verbal communication and help us to retain audience’s attention. Mr. Abbott has displayed various prominent non-verbal communication techniques which are discussed below.
Kinesics
Kinesics is the anthropological term used for body language. It is generally regarded as the grammar of body movements, facial expressions and gestures (Knapp 2012, pp. 22-24). These elements play a vital role in conveying the exact meaning to the message receiver as intended by the massage sender. In Mr. Abbott’s case, his facial expressions were very serious and natural. He was standing erectly that shows his self-assurance and confidence. He was constantly moving his right hand so as to emphasize and motivate the listeners. Such hand gestures are used to enhance and facilitate what is being said (Hargie 2010, p. 66). Hence, he was making a very good use of his gestures in collaboration with his verbal speech.
Oculesics
Oculesics is referred as any eyes-related non-verbal communication. It incorporates eye movement, eye behavior, pupil dilation and eye gaze. Eye contact is primarily a culturally influenced trait, yet it is generally considered as a mean of building trust and shows the speaker’s confidence. It also delivers the thought of being care and affection (Gruber 2011, p. 87). Additionally, it is not a positive sign to look at one person in particular; instead the speaker must shift his focus fairly towards all the people sitting in the audience (Bradbury 2013, p. 17). Mr. Abbott during his speech, tried to maintain a good eye contact with all the audience. His eye squeezing at the times of emphasis is very notable and depicts his attempt to appeal the voters and build a contact of trust with his audience. He also maintained a direct eye contact with Mr. Rudd as a sign of challenging attitude and immense confidence.
Proxemics
Proxemics is the use of essential social and personal space. This is another culture derived aspect of non-verbal communication. There is deep link between space and communication. For business interactions, the suggested personal space is 12 ft; whereas 3 ft. is ideal for partners to shake hands (Greenberg 2011, p. 45). Moreover, the space also depends upon the extent of formality of interaction. In this case, Mr. Abbott was interacting with a large group of people on a public forum. He stood at the right side of the host; but while speaking, he walked closer to the audience and stood in the centre as an attempt to be more interactive and appealing. Further at the end of the speech, he came closer to Mr. Rudd for a very formal hand shake.
Haptics
Haptics is a sense of touch. Touch is an archaic form of communication that has been symbolic. Its use depends upon the environment settings and the form of interaction between the people involved in a communication process. The only haptics we could observe in the specimen is a ‘hand shake’. Formal meetings usually begin and close with a hand shake. A closing handshake is moreover, a lasting impression. A firm handshake depicts self-confidence, promotes positivity, delivers a sense of warmth and creates goodwill (Dolcos 2012, pp. 2293-2295). Mr. Abbott made a warm handshake with his opponent, Mr. Rudd accompanied by a direct eye-contact. This showed his confidence, firmness and positivity. Whereas, Mr. Rudd avoided looking into his eyes and made a limp handshake. This act was clearly visible and has been greatly highlighted on media.
Attire
Attire refers to ones clothing style, apparel and general appearance. It is absolutely influenced by the nature of interaction that is taking place plus the environment in which it is taking place. In a formal setting, attire supplements the speaker with an additional confidence and differentiates him from the people sitting in audience (Knapp 2012, pp. 190-191). All the three speakers here were formally dressed in suits. Mr. Abbott looked very smart and handsome in his apparel; formal dressing, hair nicely set and formal shoes. All of these were complimenting his personality and were perfect for the environment he was present in.
HOW EFFECTIVE MR. ABBOTT HAS BEEN IN HIS COMMUNICATION
Tony Abbott was very confident and well prepared for the speech. He came up with a good degree of homework plus his educational background, practical experience of the field and good understanding of the audience assisted him throughout the occasion. He was very determined and focused. Here, I would like to quote the statements of few people from the audience (RAO 2013);
“Tony Abbott for me (won the debate). He was more confident in his answers.” said Evan Spiros, a man from the audience.
Another voter, Natalie Pieri said, “I feel that Abbott came across more confident and leader like than Rudd.”
Alison Edwards said, “Abbott was better than I thought he would be.”
CONCLUSION
It can be deduced from the above critical analysis that Mr. Tony Abbott is a confident and determined man with outstanding communication skills. He is capable of delivering his ideas and messages boldly. He faced the audience, appealed them, made rational attempts to gain the audience’s trust by using an impressive combination of verbal and non-verbal communication skills. His attire; the closing handshake and use of vocalic made a lasting impression on the audiences and won their over whelming support and backing.
REFERENCES
Bradbury, A 2013, ‘Non-verbal communication: messages about messages’, Training Journal, pp. 16-19.
Dolcos, S,SK,AJJ,F-HS,&DF 2012, ‘The power of a handshake: Neural correlates of evaluative judgments in observed social interactions’, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, vol 24, no. 12, pp. 2292-2305.
Gordon, M 2013, ‘Predictable debate did neither Kevin Rudd nor Tony Abbott any favours’, The Age, 28 August 2013.
Greenberg, S,MN,BT,D-MR,&WM 2011, ‘Proxemic interactions: the new ubicomp?’, interactions, vol 18, no. 1, pp. 42-50.
Gruber, T 2011, ‘I want to believe they really care’, Journal of Service Management, vol 22, no. 1, pp. 85-110.
Hargie, O 2010, Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice, 5th edn, Routledge.
Knapp, ML 2012, Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction, 8th edn, Cengage Learning.
Marr, D 2012, Quarterly Essay 47 Political Animal: The Making of Tony Abbott, 47th edn, Black Inc.
RAO, JG-SAS 2013, ‘Voters’ Voice finds leaders’ debate lacking in style and substance’, NEWS LIMITED NETWORK, 12 August 2013.
Walker, I 2013, ‘Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott face off for third leaders debate at Rooty Hill’, The Daily Telegraph, 28 August 2013.
Wells, P 2009, ‘Harper’s model from down under’, in Maclean’s, Rogers Publishing Limited, Toronto.
Wood, JT 2012, Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters, 7th edn, Cengage Learnings.
