The podcast has a new episode and it’s terrific, especially if you’re passionate about politics and interested in how speeches get churned out at the highest levels of government.

You can subscribe here to get every episode of Speakola.

Michael Cooney was one of Julia Gillard’s two speechwriters and he manages to brilliantly convey the constancy of the job, the art and craft of political speechwriting, his life in ‘the windowless room within the windowless room’, as well as anecdotes from Prime Minister Gillard’s state visit to Washington to visit President Obama, her trip to Gallipoli, even her prophetic speech at the North Melbourne Breakfast speech before the 2010 Grand Final.

Michael claims the line that set his boss up as an AFL Nostradamus.

The only thing I could think of to say was — and the PM said it at the breakfast:

“One thing I do know is this, please please we cannot have a draw, our nation just couldn’t bear it.”

So they all laughed and thought it was very very funny because the election had more or less been a draw … we won but it did take a bit of a replay you might say, so that got a good laugh at the time, and then later that day, when it was a draw, the Prime Minister was considered a prophet!

Michael also talks about the big issues that confronted the Gillard government, the price on carbon, the war in Afghanistan, her trips to Gallipoli and the United States, how he got on Kevin Rudd’s ‘list’ and what it was like in the last hours of Gillard’s prime ministership.

And of course we talk about the misogyny speech, how that day unfolded, and what preparation had been done for a speech like that. It was largely adlibbed, but the Prime Minister did have some bullet points provided by staff listing Tony Abbott’s sexist comments and behaviours.

If you haven’t seen the Misogyny speech for a while, or you never have, it’s well worth a watch. It was voted ‘the most unforgettable TV moment in Australian history’ in a 2019 Guardian Australia poll.

Thank you Michael Cooney for coming on the podcast. His book is ‘The Gillard Project: My Thousand Days of Hope and Despair” and it’s a must for people interested in Australian political history.

Thanks for coming on, Michael. (I’m sorry I forgot to bring my recorder to our first interview)

Thanks to the most recent paid subscriber: ⭐ David Iser (Founding member)

Founding members get a book posted to them from the ones in stock at my website. David chose 1989: The Great Grand Final

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