Been a while since I read Burt's stuff but my recollection is that his main point is that the issue is so important that it should undergo a rigorous independent review - after all the governments require a very detailed type certification process for every new civil airliner. This is the engineering approach - test and verification. Not just engineering of course, I understand that the pharmaceutical approval process is similar. Why would we accept anything less rigorous here.
Similarly, I see that the FAA has decided that the certification applied to LSAs doesn't work - somewhat analagous to peer reviews.
Incidentally, I've long thought that Australia would be a safer place if CASA put the bulk of their efforts into surveillance of the public hospital system.