Why Greta Thunberg really irks some Aussies

Climate activist Greta Thunberg possesses intelligence, articulation and integrity that many Australians should aspire to, writes Dean Frenkel.

WHY DOES Greta Thunberg provoke the angst of so many conservative Australians? She speaks better than the vast majority of them.

Her expression is direct. She makes her points without beating around the bush, throwing in niceties or taking the back road. She looks truth in the eye and tells it how it is. Usually, this trait is attractive to Australians who like to call a spade a spade — but not in Greta’s case.

Many are put out that a young female is delivering the kind of confronting news usually delivered by middle-aged men. It is made worse by the audacity of her age. She is speaking out of turn.

Trolling Greta Thunberg: How dare they?

A high-profile psychologist has joined the ranks of media personalities and world leaders in lambasting environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

And of course, it is her confrontational message – that human behaviour is rapidly making the Earth uninhabitable – upsetting to all those who prefer to celebrate a few centuries of “civilisation”.

Aussies are uncomfortable because Greta’s thesis confronts the thin layer of modern Australian history and blows away their white bread Dreamtime. Remember, this is an old country that sings about being young and free in its national anthem.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll discover what climate deniers are actually scared of. Their fear is not about reckless human excess damaging the planet, polluting the waterways or poisoning the air. Their fear is about Greta triggering a whole new generation of Greta Thunbergs who are angry, articulate, loud, confrontational and better at expressing themselves than any previous generation.

In our new world of botox, lip and bum fillers, artificial intelligence and ChatGPT, Greta Thunberg is authentic.

Her way of speaking is highlighted by crisp clarity which makes her listener-friendly, removing the likelihood of listeners misunderstanding her. Her presentation is backed by laser-like intensity and confronting body language.

Her speech style is delivered at a brilliant speech rate that is slow enough to be clear and well-articulated yet fast enough to exhibit fluency and colour, and maintain the attention of the listener. Her speech is so good that she does appear to have been theatrically well-coached.

The lessons our leaders can learn from voices of the young

The words of three young girls have carried more compassion and wisdom than what our world leaders seem capable of showing.

Indeed, Greta’s feat of speaking English to this level is amazing for someone born and raised speaking Swedish where English is a second language.

In contrast, many Australians are monolingual. You’d think that if you only spoke one language, you’d expect to speak it pretty well — not in Australia.

Yet Australian linguists think poor speech is not an issue. They scream cultural cringe whenever Australian speech is discussed critically and publically. But like any other skill – whether it is writing, mathematics, thinking, driving, teaching or singing – speech is a most important meta-skill that contributes to quality of life and can be evaluated and improved.

Many of Australia’s best speakers come from immigrant families. There is also an extraordinary history of storytelling by Indigenous Australians — tens of thousands of years. White Australia has no excuse for being speech deficient.

Australia has much to learn from Greta Thunberg and her new tribe of climate ambassadors. The Australia-wide epidemic of poor communication skills has created a desperate need for a new generation of brilliant communicators. They will determine its future more than any other.

Dean Frenkel is a writer and communications consultant, lectured in Public Speaking and Communications at Victoria University, worked with politicians and written extensively for newspapers.