The Malinauskas comms lesson: Start with values
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.
Peter Malinauskas (Seven)
The South Australian election shows how leaders can use communication to draw people in rather than turn them against one another.
The thundering victory of Peter Malinauskas and the Labor Party in the South Australian election has foundations in an economic and general competence of government.
But what intersected with voters as they prepared to vote was the way ‘Mali’ communicates, and the message he was conveying.
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.
By choosing the Lawson poem, with its message of acceptance of ‘new’ Australians ( i.e. immigrants) it was a strong repudiation of One Nation’s nasty, negative message. I hope that was not lost on people although it seems to have been lost on journalists and commentators.