JULIA Gillard has enlisted the help of an image consultant and media training guru to sharpen up her public performances.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the Prime Minister has undertaken intensive coaching at Kirribilli House with a renowned “leadership skills trainer”.
Ms Gillard, who has struggled to translate her feisty parliamentary performances into convincing interviews and speeches, took the crash course ahead of two major prime ministerial addresses.
Image Media Services trainer Mike Macnamara met with Ms Gillard just days before she delivered her nationally televised address to the nation spruiking the carbon tax.
The lesson also came on the eve of the PM’s speech at the NSW Labor conference in July.
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Despite Mr Macnamara’s expertise in “media interview technique and stand and deliver presentation skills”, Ms Gillard’s televised address received mixed reviews, with some labelling it wooden and overly scripted. And her speech to the party faithful was also oddly subdued.
Observers have noted that Ms Gillard, who has battled critics mocking her broad accent throughout her political career, has markedly slowed her delivery during speeches.
“Sometimes before significant speeches the Prime Minister rehearses – as you’d expect,” a spokesman for Ms Gillard said yesterday.
“On occasion an outsider is brought in to offer a fresh eye and a different perspective.”
A Labor MP said there has long been concern that Ms Gillard’s true personality often doesn’t show in public performances.
“On TV and in the public, she comes across as stilted and wooden when she gives speeches,” the MP said.
“In discussions, I’ve always found her to be quite engaging. She can be funny.”
Mr Macnamara has been engaged by many federal and state leaders. He refused to comment but boasts on his website to training six prime ministers and nine state premiers, “including three of the current serving leaders”.
After training former Tasmanian premier David Bartlett, the guru said “the most common areas for individually tailored sessions are on media interview technique and stand and deliver presentation skills for those presenting from a podium on a regular basis”.
It is understood Mr Macnamara was brought in to help Ms Gillard with the key speeches and not with the press conferences after launching the carbon tax policy. The guru says he “devises appropriate delivery strategies” for leaders “often in turbulent times under pressure”.
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