Gladys Berejiklian Resigns: Body Language Analysis
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian resigned today with the news of the ICAC’s investigation into whether there was a conflict of interest between her public duties and private interests.
The investigation relates to her relationship with former Australian politician Daryl Maguire. Maguire quit the Liberal Party after admitting that he sought payment over a property deal at a corruption inquiry.
Nonverbal Behaviour Analysis
Gladys Berejiklian’s Resignation Speech
As Berejiklian greets the media, her expression is one of sadness. Within context, it’s to be expected.
Reading emotional state is interesting, but what I’m most interested in are behaviours that are at odds with the verbal content. I spot one at just 50 seconds into her resignation speech. This is the catalyst that has me writing this analysis without having viewed the rest. What I see is worth sharing, even if nothing else materialises from my behaviour analysis.
Facial Movements in the Expression of Sadness.
Berejiklian reads her script at a faster pace than usual, her head and eye gaze point downwards, with no audience interaction. She’s nonverbally and probably inadvertently communicating that she doesn’t want to be there. Who can blame her given the circumstances? As she reads her script her head nods once as she completes each statement.
We hit the incongruent behaviour just 50 seconds in, where words and behaviour conflict as Berejiklian states, “I want to be very clear”, all while shaking her head. This is significant given the context and statement.
Just a second later, we see a partial, single headshake on the word, “ever”, then another full headshake on the words, “has always been”. Berejiklian continues and seconds later there’s another partial headshake on the word “always”.
Let’s look at this part of the statement with the red flags in italics.
“I want to be very clear, in all the decisions I have ever made as a Minister or as Premier of New South Wales, my first consideration has always been the wellbeing and welfare of the people of this state. I state categorically, I’ve always acted with the highest level of integrity. ”
Does Berejiklian want to be very clear?
Has her first consideration always been the wellbeing and welfare of the people in all the decisions she has ever made?
Has she always acted with the highest level of integrity?
The Headshake
When training people to read nonverbal behaviour, I always warn them to be careful with interpreting a headshake. There are some cultural differences with head movements, however, in this context, it’s safe to set those aside. Interestingly, there’s some evidence to suggest the headshake could be universal—it’s been observed by researchers in bonobos, our close relatives, as they appear to communicate to their offspring not to do something.
The other thing we need to be wary of when interpreting a headshake is that it often communicates disbelief at the bigger picture at the same time that someone says something affirmative. I explained this with an example in this article: Prince Andrew Epstein Scandal Interview: Body language and statement analysis. The disbelief headshake is very common and can easily be misinterpreted as deception—by those seeking deception.
With this in mind, do I think Berejiklian’s headshake is in disbelief at the situation? No. Because of the nuances of the timing of the words and the presence/absence of other behaviours surrounding it.
Am I declaring that she’s being deceptive? No. If you’re familiar with my work, you’ll know I’m always careful not to declare deception. This is one behaviour that is incongruent with words. What I am saying is that this is one hell of a red flag. One that we should take seriously and be wary of.
Berejiklian continues her resignation speech, with a head nod in alignment with her words as she talks about the privilege of serving the people of NSW.
“History will demonstrate that I have always executed my duties, again, with the highest level of integrity, for the benefit of the people of New South Wales, who I have the privilege to serve.”
At the same time, we see another facial expression of sadness, along with a change in vocal tone. Berejiklian seems genuine that she had the privilege of serving the people of NSW.
The emotion of sadness surrounds loss. We can be sure Berejiklian feels sad and that sadness comes from loss, but we cannot read minds and, therefore, we can’t be sure about where the loss lies. Is the loss surrounding losing the privilege of serving the people, loss of reputation, loss of power or something else? My guess, because we can only guess, is that she does feel the loss of serving her people.
Berejiklian is quick to conceal her expression of sadness, getting a grip on her emotional state and continuing with the task at hand, her resignation speech.
“As the leader of the NSW Government, I have expected the highest standard of myself and my colleagues.”
As Berejiklian continues, we get more insight into Berejiklian’s thoughts and feelings, with the observation of a microexpression of sadness at 1:20, on the words, “myself”.
Microexpression of Sadness
A microexpression is an expression of emotion that occurs for half a second or less. You can learn more about microexpressions here Emotion Spotting: Expressions and microexpressions, but in a nutshell, a microexpression is an involuntary expression of emotion—a leaked emotion—that is concealed or suppressed. Because microexpressions are involuntary, they are genuine expressions. That doesn’t mean that regular expressions which last for longer than half a second aren’t genuine. Many are genuine, but some are fake.
Putting this knowledge with the observed microexpression and seeing her words within context, we can assume Berejiklian feels let down by herself. Is this an indicator of wrongdoing?
Headshakes
“I have made it clear on numerous occasions, that if any of my ministers were the subject of allegations being investigated by an integrity agency or law enforcement, then he or she should stand aside during the course of the investigation until their name was cleared.”
Berejiklian shakes her head again as she says, “numerous occasions”. In the context of her words, this isn’t significant, so we can skip forward.
As Berejiklian continues, we can observe several headshakes that are congruent with her words. While these headshakes back up her words and therefore aren’t red flags, they give some weight to the incongruent headshakes we saw earlier, as being potential areas of deception.
Resigning at this time is against every instinct in my being and something which I do not want to do. I love my job and I love serving the community, but I have been given no option following the statement that has been issued today.
Berejiklian flashes another microexpression of sadness on the word, “time”. More evidence of genuine sadness. This time, surrounding the timing of her resignation.
Throughout the rest of her resignation speech, Berejiklian shakes her head numerous times. Sometimes these are aligned with her words, other times they aren’t. I’m going to point out two more incongruent headshakes then I’m handing it over to you to use your skills to see if you can spot any more. Here are my last two:
“I have never felt stronger nor more confident in my leadership. I have absolutely no regrets during my time in public life.”
Has Berejiklian really never felt stronger or more confident?
Does she really have absolutely no regrets?
“… However, I’m extremely confident that whoever succeeds me will be more than capable to continue this job.
Is Berejiklian really extremely confident in potential successors?
Here’s the video…
ABC News Video: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian resigns amid ICAC corruption probe
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