By Mark Textor
One danger of being a hired gun in campaign politics is an almost permanent and deep desensitisation to some issues that cause legitimate outrage in others. A clear head and steady nerves are required when the campaign bombs explode. Yet I also remember my first lesson from Ronald Reagan's long-time pollster, Richard Wirthlin, who sagely said: ''Yes, persuade by reason, but remember that motivations are about emotion.''
This week we saw a startling disconnect between the vanilla rationality of Canberra and the raw emotion that sometimes motivates mainstream Australians. The week also showed the embarrassing redundancy of traditional and old-school PR approaches when those emotions run high.
Workers cut meat from an Australian cow at Gondrong Slaughter House.Credit: Irwin Fedriansyah
On Monday night the ABC's Four Corners program aired a story on Animals Australia's investigation into the treatment of cattle exported to Indonesia via the live export industry. The program showed evidence of atrocious cruelty to Australian cattle by Indonesian slaughtermen - images so appalling and so graphic, I fear they will not easily be erased from my mind.
Nowhere was the outpouring of mainstream reaction more obvious than on the open, often event-centred medium Twitter. The traffic on Twitter was overwhelming; the hashtag #4corners was moving so fast it was difficult to track specific comments in real-time; the discussion stream was bombarded with opinion tweets conveying shock and disgust, and uniquely, the sentiment was almost 100 per cent negative.
The decision-makers, influencers, journalists and the twitterati - all with preferred mobile device in hand - had established a personal view that was instantly backed by many thousands with similar and strongly expressed views. In turn, many ventured into print or blog posts in the following days.
This was no PETA or GetUp! astroturfing. This was the mainstream and they were moving hard and fast on the issue.
While the conduct of the Indonesian slaughtermen displays an unnerving absence of decency and compassion for living creatures - and you would have to be deluded to assume that the problem is confined to the few exposed - the dull, predictable and stereotypical response by the Australian industry bodies has been nothing short of astonishing, given the level of community outrage.
In some campaigns, an issue so fundamental to community beliefs and values can arise that no amount of spin and technique can help you deal with it. Only a genuine policy response will suffice.
At this point, the campaign imperative shifts from communications to leadership. But in contrast to that requirement, initiatives such as Meat and Livestock Australia's ''Indonesian Action Plan'' (conveniently launched just a few days before the Four Corners program went to air) and the federal government's banning of supply to only some abattoirs, demonstrates no such leadership and will likely have little effect on the practices of the Indonesians.
We often advise that when considering future commitments, voters will look to your record in keeping previous ones. Here, most would find it truly breathtaking that after 18 years of supplying live cattle to Indonesia, commitments to ''implementing lasting animal welfare improvements'' are still being thrown about.
What was happening 18 years ago? Is MLA saying that what we saw on Monday night is actually an improvement in industry practice? And the absolute clincher: the deadline for reaching these lofty heights of animal welfare standards is (trumpet chorus, please) the year 2015 - in four years. Can someone please tell me on what political planet MLA and the livestock exporter LiveCorp are living?
And where have the producer levies been going? More than $100 million paid each year by Australian farmers, who have been sickened by what is happening to their cattle - they should be asking what happened to their money.
MLA and LiveCorp had plenty of time to prepare for this online outrage and should have participated in the conversation during Four Corners. No amount of words would convince anyone that MLA and LiveCorp had done everything in their power to stop this, but they could have at least shared their disgust and clearly outlined that this has galvanised the organisation into diving head first into fixing the problem. There is nothing like meaning what you say.
They needed to send a strong signal that they knew how to help themselves.
On Monday night, you couldn't get on the Animals Australia website after the program on Four Corners. That was understandable. In stark contrast, MLA had a sadly dormant Twitter presence - so much for advocacy.
Along with Animals Australia and the RSPCA, our peak veterinary body, the Australian Veterinary Association, has called for an immediate halt to live exports to Indonesia. And as to the claims by MLA about oversupply following any halt of live cattle exports, Animals Australia has had confirmation from one of the country's major meat processors that they can process cattle here in Australia that were previously destined for Indonesia.
The next steps for the industry and government are no-brainers. Australia should export live cattle only to the 10 or so abattoirs in Indonesia which use stun guns prior to slaughter, the remaining beef stays in Australia for processing, and MLA should immediately halt the supply of restraining boxes to Indonesian abattoirs.
To many watching the horror unfold on TV, a judgment was formed that successive chief executives and chairmen of industry bodies have probably known about the animal welfare issues in Indonesia and have chosen to look away.
If this were a political party, the conclusion would have been drawn that they've dudded their members (the honest, hard-working farmers) and the wider community in general. Whatever MLA and LiveCorp have got in the bank, they should hand back to their members along with their resignations.
Mark Textor is the founder of the campaign consultants Crosby|Textor.