A rule usually reserved for public health or safety emergencies was used to expedite a $1.6 million advertising campaign by the NSW government in support of its decision to ban greyhound racing amid an industry backlash.
The revelation is contained in documents tabled in the NSW Parliament that also reveal the manager of government communications feared the campaign would be received in a "propaganda style way".
The print, television and radio advertising blitz was launched amid furious debate about the Baird government's decision to close the industry from July 1 next year.
The decision followed the report of a special commission of inquiry that found up to 68,000 greyhounds were killed in the past 12 years "because they were considered too slow to pay their way or were unsuitable for racing".
The ads highlighted the number of greyhounds killed each year and asked: "What's the real cost of greyhound racing?"
But a briefing tabled in the Legislative Council states the campaign would be "aimed at greyhound racing industry participants to prevent them from hastily killing or dumping greyhounds" in response to the ban.
The briefing – titled "urgent greyhound safety campaign" – says some greyhound owners told a government help line and the RSPCA they would "surrender, kill or dump greyhounds".
This allowed the ads to be run before a peer review was carried out as is required for campaigns worth more than $50,000 under the Government Advertising Act.
Under the act, a peer review – or cost-benefit analysis for a campaign likely to cost more than $1 million – can be done afterwards if the campaign involves "an urgent public health or safety matter or is required in other urgent circumstances".
In other documents, an email by Mayanne LaFontaine, manager of government communications at the Department of Premier and Cabinet, laments that the ads do not elicit an emotional response.
"If feels more like government is sending a message that we don't particularly want you to understand (cause it is said very quickly) or that we are trying to convince you in a propaganda style way," she wrote.
Opposition leader Luke Foley said: "Despite the fact that his own bureaucrats told him his ads were propaganda, Mike Baird was so desperate to shore up public support that he invented a civil emergency to ram through them through."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Premier and Cabinet said Ms LaFontaine's comments were about an earlier version of the advertisement that was broadcast.
She said the campaign had "a number of reasons – one which included concerns for the welfare of existing greyhounds".
"The purpose was also to inform the industry and the wider community of the proposed changes to greyhound racing in NSW and demonstrate NSW Government's commitment to work with the industry to develop a humane and orderly transition to close."
