Believers recall spin-less oratory

LABOR elder John Faulkner has criticised politicians for focusing on "how" they communicate rather than "what" they communicate.

Patricia Amphlett and Bob Hawke

LABOR elder John Faulkner has criticised politicians for focusing on "how" they communicate rather than "what" they communicate, arguing those who rely on 10-second soundbites and political slogans "have no desire to inspire us" like Gough Whitlam did four decades ago.

At a gathering of Labor luminaries, true believers and celebrities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Mr Whitlam's "It's Time" election policy speech that catapulted Labor to power, Senator Faulkner said the "demanding challenge of arguing policy and principle" was no substitute for polluting speeches with "key lines" and the "three-word message".

"Speech-making," he said, "with its demands of eloquence and endurance, of reason and rhetoric, is supposedly a lost skill beyond the abilities of modern politicians, and outside the attention spans of today's voters".

But Senator Faulkner said the demands of media did not mean that political speeches needed to be dumbed down with soundbites or rendered meaningless with key lines prepared by government spin-doctors.

Rather, he said that the many and varied media platforms made it easier for people to see and hear speeches live or after they had been delivered.

"I think political speeches are potentially more powerful, and more important, than ever before. Today, two million people can see and hear a speech given in a venue that, physically, can hold only the tiniest fraction of that number. They can watch it and listen to it as it is given. Or moments or hours or even months later," he said.

Senator Faulkner, who is chairman of the Whitlam Institute, joined former prime minister Bob Hawke in leading the tributes to Mr Whitlam at the "Back to Blacktown" dinner hosted by the institute last night.

"That vision is a grand one, but grand statements in political speeches are often disregarded as hollow rhetoric," he said.

"What set Gough's declaration of intent apart from so many others, what makes his speech so much more than a flourish of ideals, is the concrete, complex policy agenda that follows.

"And in that interplay between the idealistic and the pragmatic, the vision and the visible, lies the power and the greatness of this speech."

After listening to a recording of that speech, a man who was also present during the night 40 years ago, Mr Hawke, said it was "impossible to convey the sense of what was a feverish excitement and anticipation".

"When Gough came up to the microphone all of us could see the end of the light at the end of that long, dark tunnel of 23 years of seeing privileged propped up."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: MITCHELL NADIN