wallydownundy

Australia has a rich history in current affairs programming. The expose style format started here with “This Day Tonight” which started in 1967 aired its last show in 1978. Since then a bevy of similar format programs have seen success. As a public relations professional, its standard format to train clients for appearances on these programs so they come across lucid and professional when filmed. (Easier said than done as I learned when appearing on a live business news show in Hong Kong - my left knee wouldn’t stop shaking!)

ABC Television is home to the current affairs program “Four Corners” that aired a segment on inhumane treatment of Australian cattle at Indonesian abattoirs.  Not that a visit to a slaughterhouse is ever for the feint of heart, however this program shows particularly gruesome scenes. (View the 30 May 2011 episode on-line at ABC’s iView site.)

In the two weeks since the program aired, the national newspapers have been filled with stories on the issue. This has bubbled all the way to Parliament with a decision by government to ban live cattle export to Indonesia. This complete ban followed an interim step of black-listing the 12 abattoirs shown in the program. Backlash led to a full ban and calls for an end to live exports.

The export of live cattle is a multi-million dollar business in Australia. The purpose-built ship Becrux is such a formidable piece of machinery that “Mighty Ships” on The Discovery Channel profiled the carrier. (Oddly enough the episode is available on torrent file sharing sites but is no longer listed on the list of episodes for the series.) The ship can accommodate 1,400+ live cattle and travels regularly between Darwin in far North Australia to ports in South East Asia, including Indonesia. Live cattle is the export of choice for Indonesia as infrastructure is not in place to refrigerate meat.

The live cattle issue is now a topic of national conversation. Prime Minister Julia Gillard explained the ban on exports to Indonesia as temporary, allowing inspectors and exporters time to put in place monitoring to ensure humane treatment of cattle.  The industry body, Meat & Livestock Australia, decry the inhumane treatment and are working towards a solution. Meanwhile a range of opponents are calling for the ban of live exports, including a campaign featuring cows named Dudley and Arthur by the influential RSPCA.

When and how the ban is lifted will be a balancing act between media coverage, national attention and politics.  At the next ALP (Australian Labor Party) conference the party’s policies towards live export are under review.

All said the issue showcases how investigative journalism can lead the national debate. The original program by “Four Corners” sparked a furor that has yet to die down.  It shows that current affair programs have a leading role in Australian culture and politics, and will continue to play that vital role for some time to come.

In late March there were changes at my old firm, and with new management I elected to resign. That allows me to pursue a role more in keeping with my expertise in corporate communications. There’s an oddly liberating feeling that comes with such a momentous decision. There’s also a sense of deflation and borderline delirium. Change is change and it isn’t always a guaranteed good thing!

Starting out exploring next steps had me rattling my network of business contacts and acquaintances. In early April all replied it would be best to wait until after Easter. The pending holiday allowed a three week period where decisions could be deferred. And after came the Federal Budget, so it made sense to delay meetings until after. And now some are considering delays until the new financial year.

Reflecting this new climate of indecision, The Australian and UBS hosted a seminar in Sydney yesterday featuring Prime Minister Julia Gillard and top CEOs. The only upbeat enthusiasm came from the government as it attempted to sell its budget. Meanwhile businesses warned of a growing downturn in Australia’s economy. (see today’s The Australian for full coverage).

Reasons for the concern? Increased cost of living leading to rising wage pressures is top of the list. Add to that rampant growth in the minerals and mining sector and you have upward pressure on inflation. To contain that the Reserve Bank has been steadily raising interest rates. The Australian dollar has gone from its laughable status as the “Pacific Peso” to a highly coveted currency worth much more than its American counterpart. Housing prices are on the climb. And don’t even mention bananas - these golden fruits became worth as much as the metal when a cyclone destroyed growing fields, while import restrictions mean foreign bananas remain banned. (Today’s price is $17 per kilo or $8 per pound.)

The two speed economy is really showing signs of strain. On one gear its in over-drive with rising ore prices sending the minerals sector into rapid growth. Back in the cities consumer fight to afford everyday items and businesses grow increasingly concerned.

Australia never experienced the full force of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) but it seems the aftermath is starting to pack a punch.

In Queensland the clean-up effort continues. In Victoria townspeople are bracing for the cresting of floods. In the last two years the nation’s gone from record drought to record rainfall. The clean-up and rebuilding is expected to add further force to our already strong economy. The challenge for government is juggling the speeds as different parts of Australia grow at different speeds.

Before the floods talk was rife of a two-speed economy. In mining towns drivers are paid six figure salaries - then spend it on housing, groceries, food and basic services. The remote location and limited infrastructure mean mining towns are booming. Fast food outlets can’t compete with mining wages so even food can be hard to source.

And back in the city fringe, growth was markedly slower. Some suburbs faced decreased housing prices and a drop in employment. Tradespeople and construction workers find it easier to relocate or take “fly in, fly out” jobs where they work in one place and live in another. Hence the two speeds - if the Reserve Bank lifted interest rates to slow spending in fast-growing pockets of the nation, it hurt poorer sections. Treasurer Wayne Swan and Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens have a delicate job.

Then came the floods.

In the aftermath entire towns are being rebuilt. Thousands were left homeless and property prices in flood-affected areas are likely to plummet (one analyst predicts falls of up to 50%). The federal government has promised not to limit spending on rebuilding - and even that won’t keep the budget from being in surplus by 2012-2013.

Today Coface - a leading credit insurer - reported that Australia remains one of the world’s top 10 economies. Annual growth of 3.4% predicted may slow to 2.9% given the setbacks of the floods. Yet it’s still impressive a nation can have an area the size of Germany and France combined inundated with floods and still record strong growth.

Many, many sectors will be hard hit and there are personal stories of desolation and ruinevery day. It will take people years or decades to recover from the financial losses of January. Yet that will be made all the easier in an economy racing to to the tune of three speeds - mining, city fringes and flood zones.

Queen Street in Goodna, Queensland is a great place to shop. The usual assortment of banks and bakeries, grocers and post offices line both sides of the street. Yet with the town being located next to Brisbane River, this week that stretch of retail has been underwater.

And with the fast-moving waters residents have been advised to stay out of the floodwaters. Water treatment plants have been inundated so untreated sewage is discharging into the water. Floating debris and dislocated snakes have also been common sightings.

But in an “only in Australia” moment earlier this week, a bull shark was spotted - swimming along the main street of Goodna (Source: ABC News). Local Councillor Paul Tully said people need to stay out of the water:

“Stay out of the water - you’ve got the problem of the sanitation of the water, but also the possibility of bull sharks and being eaten,” he said. “I never would have thought I would ever have seen a bull shark in the main street of Goodna.” (Source: ABC News).

If you’re not a dedicated follower of elasmobranchology (study of sharks and rays) then you may not know the Bull Shark is renowned for swims upriver. It flourishes in the brackish water between sea and land. You also wouldn’t know it is one of the few species of sharks known to bite first and question later. It is one of the most dangerous sharks known to mankind. According to The Australian Museum:

The Bull Shark is one of the few sharks that are potentially dangerous to people and is probably responsible for most of the shark attacks in and around Sydney Harbour. (Source The Australian Museum)

For the people of Queensland this is the last thing needed. Imagine trying to salvage goods out of your store on Queen Street Goodna then encountering this?

Earlier in the week I wrote about the heated debate around retail giant Bing Lee and their linking Facebook “like” status to flood victim donations. There was a lot of commentary and passion.

Today a new Facebook page was launched. And with the same enthusiasm and support that got Betty White on Saturday Night Live, the goal is to make a change. This one is seeking to stop the fireworks on Australia Day and instead donate the funds to flood clean-up and flood victims.

Now that’s an idea that deserves as much coverage as possible - check it out here.

Relying on digital sources for news updates can only satisfy those with multiple personalities. Either that or I have the wrong news aggregators.

Because I was born and raised in the USA, I still access news sources in the USA. This week the headlines have all been about guns in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gifford. Stories have also drawn in Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin as her fundraising page had cross-hairs over Gifford’s electoral district and the phrase “Don’t Retreat - Reload”. (In her defence Palin today called accusations against her “blood libel” and insisted she retains the right to free speech.)

For my Australian life, I access news sources from Sydney and other capital cities. The news here is almost exclusively flood-related. This morning at 4:00 am the floodwaters peaked in Brisbane and will now take several days to recede. Thousands have been left homeless and scores killed. The economic devastation will rival that of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  

To switch between the two subjects takes a quick mind and a steady nerve. Both are intensely painful subjects that are at the heart of each country’s psyche. As an American I grew up knowing we were all allowed to have guns. I handled them from my teen years even though I didn’t hunt. And as an Australian I know the land is subject to tremendous forces of nature. Our winter storms come from Antarctica. Our nation’s centre is all but inaccessible during summer - people die wandering away from stranded cars in the hot desert clime.

Until I change my news aggregator to “Dear Abby” or Horoscopes or Movie News then I’ll have to live with the torment of catastrophe in today’s news.

Our business friends working in Brisbane report the city is slowly succumbing to floodwaters. Businesses across town are closing as basements flood and put at risk electricity (and elevator) service. Some key roads like Eagle Street are already cut off. Tomorrow’s high tide is expected to exacerbate the issue. Floodwaters have nowhere to go. According to The Australian, evacuations in Brisbane’s west are underway.

 This comes on top of the flash flood that hit the town of Toowoomba yesterday. The 7 metre high wall of water arrived with no notice. It’s been described as an “instant inland tsunami.”

To everyone in Brisbane and other parts of flood-affected Queensland - please stay safe. Don’t take risks with flooded roads. My thoughts are with you all.

As Australia continues to suffer under “once in a thousand year” floods, the weekend news reported on the potential benefit the disaster holds for Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. She has a maximum of 16 months left to lead - elections can be called any time, but must be held no later than June 2012. Yet in advance of the water-borne devastation Premier Bligh was failing in the polls. She’s not been seen as an effective leader by many.

Flash forward a week and floods have given her an opportunity to shine. Her ability to demonstrate leadership in a crisis may be well remembered by the populace. Call it the “Rudy Giuliani Effect” but any leader who is at the forefront of a widespread crisis is adored. Berlusconi and the Earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy? Check! Bush at Ground Zero? Check! Premier Wen and the earthquake in Yushu County, China? Double check!

So in that spirit NSW Premier Kristina Keneally took to the air to survey flood-damaged property in far north New South Wales. Yet instead of a windfall in ratings, Premier Keneally had her visit overshadowed by news that an investigation into the rushed sale of electricity assets needed to proceed. She’d “underestimated” the strength of the public’s interest in the issue.

Sadly the combination of the demand for an investigation and the photo inside a helicopter didn’t strike the best combination. But maybe that’s the “New Orleans Effect” as then-Presidnet George Bush learned. He said the photograph of him surveying New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina was a low point of his political career.  

For political leaders the lesson is clear - take charge and the electorate will reward you.

“Hey Sarah Palin - I can see Russia too!”

The combination of record high floodwaters and the slow summer season means Australia’s media is awash with water stories. Just as there’s a gross excess of water, there’s a gross excess of coverage. Yet within all that news there’s a lesson for anyone preparing for a media interview.

Technical talk is always hard for laymen to understand. The best spokespeople are able to cut through with visual language. “The area flooded is the size of France and Germany combined.” That reference is easy to understand and has been used repeatedly. Whereas the following is harder to conceptualise:

“PrimeAg Australia Ltd., a producer, estimated about 2,000 hectares, or 13 percent, of its 15,200 hectare cotton crop had been inundated.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Last night on ABC Radio National, one expert discussed the increased amount of floodwater being released from a local dam to make space for oncoming floodwaters. Some 22 megalitres were released daily. Two questions later we learned that was up from a daily average of 10 megalitres. But the oncoming floods represented gigalitres of water.

What?

I wasn’t raised with the metric system. The Americans refuse to believe it exists (except for alcohol which is sold in litres versus quarts). But the “mega” and “giga” sounded suspiciously like my computer storage. Answers.com takes the easy route - their response to “how many litres in a megalitre” gains in simplicity what it loses in ease of understanding (1,000,000.0 L = 1 ML).

But leave it to the fishermen to be straight to the point. On an angler’s forum on Ausfish, the question is answered easily by Slates - a bronze fish member:

“One cubic meter of water is one thousand litres (one kilolitre) and very close to one thousand kilograms. Therefore, if you have a pool that’s 50m X 25m X 2m (guessing at the olympic size), you’d be looking at 2.5 megalitres.” (Source: Slates on Ausfish.com.au)

So let’s rewind to the ABC Radio National interview. It would have been clearer to say:

“On a normal day we release 10 megalitres of water - enough to fill four Olympic-size pools. We’ve jumped that to 22 megalitres every day - or the equivalent of 10 full pools.” (Source: Me!)

Got it? The lesson is simple - use your technical term, but then define it immediately in a context every person can understand. It will keep you from doing a belly flop on air.

A recent advertising and public relations campaign by high-profile retailers has struck a nerve - unfortunately, it wasn’t the one they aimed for.

A coallition of big name retail stores banded together to demand a level playing field. Their argument is that on-line sales allow consumers to dodge taxes for purchases under $1,000. Graphs showcasing why Levi Jeans cost $69 on-line versus $95 in-store aim to educate consumers. The real goal is to get government to impose restrictions like duty or taxes on any Internet sales. The problem - says the government - is that collecting tax globally on $100 sales will cost more than is raised.

It’s more than uncompetitive. According to retailer Gerry Harvey it’s “Un-Australian.” We’re told paying more “is the right thing to do.”

SIDEBAR: Three years ago the Australian dollar was mockingly called the “Pacific Peso” - at one stage the Australian dollar was worth 50 US cents. Flash forward to today and we’ve achieve parity - the US and Australian dollars are worth the same. So instead of paying AU$150 for a US$100 item we’re paying AU$100. By year-end analysts say AU$1 will equal US$1.10.

The arguments against retailers are diverse - from poor service to high prices to limited trading hours to high prices (did I say that already?). Moving from New York City to Sydney involved a number of culture shocks. The worst was the lack of a strong retail culture. There are stores - but back in 1990 you’d pay 3-4 times what Americans paid. And while manufacturing in China has driven down prices, what hasn’t changed is the limited selection, abbreviated hours and poor service. If you want to shop after 6:00 pm there’s one night a week - or your precious weekend.

What’s most frustrating is the challenge finding what you want. On the weekend we went to Westfield Bondi Junction - a glamorous and wonderful mall in Sydney. We didn’t have much in mind spare wasting time. When we decided to buy the second season of “Glee” we were directed to three separate stores. None had it in stock. One had stopped selling DVDs but no one had updated the store directory. That afternoon Amazon.com had the product - and a lot more. Once again we over-spent.

Australian retailers need to take advantage of the on-line trend and provide a robust shopping experience in their web stores. Most are horribly antiquated. Buying a book? Good luck - one local on-line store took the credit card - then said after the book would ship in three months when stock arrived. That wasn’t a transparent experience at all.

In the USA on-line and physical stores co-exist beautifully. There have been massive changes to the retail sector however the addition of good on-line options has been “additive” - more is sold than ever before. Stores are happy. On-line retailers are happy. And the customers? Well the kings are happy too.

Kings of Retail vs Customer is King?