Speech writing for Government Ministers

Hi everyone,

The art of writing a fantastic speech was a hot topic for me when I was at the Department for Communities, as I was thrilled when I was asked to write my first official speech for one of the Ministers. This was also daunting at the same time; because I hadn’t even contemplated writing a speech since I’d studied PR Techniques all the way back in my 1st year of university.

When you write anything at the Department for Communities, you have to make sure it is conservative, the use of creative language isn’t really commonplace. I found these ‘rules’ difficult when writing a media statement, let alone a speech – especially for a Minister. Thankfully, I had some very experienced community relations specialists who were more than happy to help me out. There are several departmental events held throughout the year and the Ministers frequently speak at these, so it’s common for the Community Relations employees to write several speeches a year.

When the Ministers are first put in charge of a portfolio, they make a speech to the rest of parliament explaining who they are, their values, passions and what they hope to bring to the portfolio. Most of these speeches give the audience a good idea of their family history and where they grew up. The Ministers’ first speeches are available on the database at the Department, and I found it very helpful to have a read of them and get a better understanding of the type of person they are.

I was writing the speech for Minister McSweeney, who is in charge of the Women’s Interest and Seniors and Volunteering portfolios, among others. After reading her speech I realised she was from the country, and had four children within the space of five years. She also has strong family ties to Western Australia. The department was launching the Women’s Information Services Directory, a comprehensive women’s-interest directory of services. The event was held at Kings Park. The event took place on 30th May, and attracted a number of influential members of the Perth community.

I was told that most Ministers stray from the speech slightly, but generally speaking they stick to the main points of the speech. The Community Relations employees say that depending on the target audience, you should limit your main points accordingly. For this speech, the Minister was only required to talk for about 5 minutes, so 3 main points was necessary. However, the PR person in charge of the Children and Families portfolio mentioned that many of her speeches have been even less than that, specifically because children have a very, very short attention span!