An interesting development........
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...dd6a7b?login=1
THE AUSTRALIAN
EXCLUSIVE,
ROBYN IRONSIDE, AVIATION WRITER
29 NOVEMBER 2018
Three billboards outside Wagga Wagga target McCormack Frustration over civil aviation safety laws in Australia has prompted Dick Smith to erect three billboards outside of Wagga Wagga targeting Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
Dick Smith's latest mission is three billboards outside Wagga Wagga, NSW. Inspired by Academy Award-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the veteran airman will shell out for the billboards to turn up the heat on Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack over civil aviation safety legislation.
Mr Smith wants the current review of legislation to recognise the need for high safety standards must be balanced with the cost of delivery, and be of benefit to civil aviation. Instead, he said, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Mr McCormack, was insisting on the laws retaining the phrase that "CASA must regard the safety of air navigation as the most important consideration".
"Those words are a lie," Mr Smith said. "Take, for example, the control tower at Wagga Airport. If safety was the most important consideration, it would be staffed, and there would be a fire service stationed at the airport."
He said the "non-negotiable" wording of the legislation was also being applied inconsistently. "When it comes to general aviation, we're told you must do this no matter what the cost because it's a matter of safety. That changes when it is the large airlines who don't want to foot the bill for an ATC tower to be staffed."
The billboards will have Mr McCormack's image with "Stop the lie, update the act, otherwise Australian aviation is doomed".
Mr Smith said they would be put up on the road to Wagga Wagga Airport and remain in place for three months in the lead-up to the federal election. He was unmoved by a commitment secured by Mr McCormack's aviation advisory group that cost would have to be considered when devising safety regulations.
A spokesman for Mr McCormack declined to say whether he would seek to block the billboards being displayed. Mr McCormack has said he was committed to working "on a safe, sustainable general aviation sector".