AUTHORSHIP AND THE PUBLIC SPEECH

Abstract: At one level, this paper is a fairly straightforward analysis of speeches about industry training made by two business people on behalf of the state. As such, it can be situated within a constellation of relations described by the following formations: relations between and within business and government; the role of non-statutory public advisory bodies; and the nexus of economy and training. At a second level, the paper may be read as an attempt to address the techniques of speech writing within the public service and how these resonate with "famous names" to produce authored — and authorised — documents. And at a third level, what I am seeking is to advocate the use of discourse analysis in the study of Australian public policy, by positioning the speeches within a set of structuring forms of knowledge. I want particularly to argue for the dominance of neoclassical economics as a key logic determining the terms of truth within such speeches. This will be maintained both through a reading of these specific texts and a discussion of the context within which they were produced, circulated and consumed.