In todays The Age....
CASA manager took senior job with airline
Richard Baker
October 4, 2010
A SENIOR manager at Australia's aviation regulator took an executive job at an airline - now under police investigation over a $30 million Defence contract scandal - shortly after his office issued it with a new operator's certificate, prompting conflict-of-interest concerns.
Last year's departure of the Brisbane office director of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Clive Adams, to Strategic Airlines has led to a call for CASA to follow the rest of the public service and introduce a ''cooling off'' period to prevent its senior staff from immediately joining firms they had been regulating.
Both Mr Adams and CASA have denied any conflict of interest, saying the authority's former Brisbane manager played no role in approving Strategic Airlines's request for a new operating certificate - despite the matter being handled by his office.
The Strategic group has attracted recent controversy after The Age revealed how its directors discussed being ''fed'' information about a $30 million-a-year Defence Department 2005 tender to fly Australian troops to the Middle East by two Defence officers they later employed as senior managers.
The Australian Federal Police is investigating whether any criminal offences occurred during Defence's 2005 tender involving Strategic Aviation and the two Defence officers, David Charlton and John Davies.
Despite the police inquiry, Defence last week awarded a short-term contract to Strategic Aviation to continue the Middle East troop flights while an external audit of this year's tender process - won by rival firm Adagold Aviation - continues.
CASA last year received a formal complaint about Mr Adams's departure to Strategic Airlines after his office re-activated an air operating certificate belonging to failed airline Ozjet, which allowed new owner, Strategic Airlines, to add an Airbus A320 aircraft to it.
The complaint, which is believed to have come from a former owner of Ozjet frustrated by CASA's unwillingness to make changes to the airline's operating certificate, was lodged with the authority's then industry complaints commissioner, Michael Hart, before being passed to general aviation operations manager, Greg Hood. Despite the complaint reaching high levels in CASA, its director of aviation safety, John McCormick, told Senate estimates in May that he was not aware of any concerns about ''that particular scenario'' involving Mr Adams and Strategic Airlines.
CASA said in a statement that Mr Adams declared shortly after Strategic Airlines's application for an operating certificate that his involvement could be subject to a potential conflict of interest. It is believed Mr Adams had at that time been in discussions about taking an executive role with the company.
''CASA believes all appropriate steps were taken to avoid any conflict of interest between the manager and the application for an air operator's certificate by Strategic,'' it said.
Mr Adams said he played no role in Strategic Airlines's dealings with his Brisbane office and had disclosed to CASA's leadership the potential conflict of interest.