JULIA Gillard has denied she's deliberately slurring her speech in order to call the opposition leader "Mr Rabbit" instead of Mr Abbott.

The Prime Minister appeared genuinely perplexed when asked today if she was lengthening the "r" of "Mr" in order to call her opponent "Mr Rabbit".



"Mr Rabbit? What do you mean," she said when asked mid-way through an otherwise serious interview: "Is the Mr Rabbit deliberate on your part?"



ABC Radio's Jon Faine then had to explain the issue had been running hot on talkback radio.



Ms Gillard was genuinely surprised - and perhaps a little hurt.



"I wasn't conscious of that at all," she said.



"If I am doing it I'm not intending to."



Then she retorted, with perfect diction: "I'm sorry - I-will-try-and-be-more-precise ... having been counselled to do so."



Ms Gillard has a distinctive voice which has been labelled "broad" by some and "unpretentious" by others.



In July, the Prime Minister had some advice of her own for impersonators.



A good "Gillard", according to the woman who'd know best, is all about the distinctive voice - and red hair.



"I think they're probably doing a Kath & Kim-style voice," Ms Gillard said in July.



"I think they're probably doing a lot of red hair."



Kath & Kim was a comedy which first aired on ABC TV in 2002. It poked fun at the over-the-top Australian accents and suburban lifestyles of its main characters.

Originally published asAbbott not a rabbit, says Julia Gillard