Francesca Rudkin: Don't let a little plagiarism ruin the message - The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

It was amazing to see so many people out commemorating ANZAC Day at Dawn Services and parades around the country this week.

We may move chronologically further away from the horrors of World War I, but it’s heart-warming to see so many people continue to honour the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women at any point in history, and currently.

Our Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister was in Turkey and delivered a moving tribute at the dawn ceremony in Gallipoli, which was quickly identified as having a few passages that closely resembled the sentiments of a famous speech by a former US President. Abraham Lincoln, no less!

The minister’s speech went from being praised to being questioned. Was it inspiring or embarrassing?

The answer is, both. It was a good speech. It fitted the occasion. It followed the structure you’d expect, commemorating the lives of those lost in war, and reflecting on how that sacrifice can guide us today.

Regardless of whether the passages would have benefited from referencing Lincoln or quoting him directly and attributing them to the rightful author - and so avoiding the embarrassing taint of plagiarism - the importance of the message itself shouldn’t be lost in this little controversy.

Let’s be honest, unless you have a robust knowledge of political speeches throughout history you’re not going to have recognised the references, and even now, when we understand the origins, it doesn’t change the meaning and purpose of the speech the minister gave.

There are plenty of more embarrassing situations when politicians have been caught using other people’s words.

After being re-elected as a UK Labour MP, Kate Osamor’s speech to her constituency was borrowed from one of Barack Obama’s post-victory speeches in Chicago. The changes were minor – she removed “American” and replaced it with “Edmonton”, her constituency.

American politicians have borrowed from the UK as well. In 1987, Joe Biden copied several passages from a speech by former UK Labour Leader Neil Kinnock without attribution. It ended his campaign for president, and Kellyanne Conway was all too happy to bring up again in the 2020 election campaign. Kinnock came out in support of Joe, so that backfired.

Some plagiarism has you scratching your head, such as in 2016 when Melania Trump was accused of plagiarising a speech by Michelle Obama. How anyone thought that was a good idea, I just don’t know.

And then we have our own Prime Minister, taking things to his own unique level, by referencing himself at his Waitangi Day speech earlier this year. Turns out, some people are so good they only need to quote themselves.

Hope you had a good ANZAC Day. Let’s keep focused on what’s important. We will remember them.

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