Just as the querulous buzz of a blowfly is a portent of summer’s arrival, and just as an empty stunt to try to trick Dick Smith is a portent of a Federal election, I’ve realised that a prediction by a Director of Air Safety as to the completion of the aviation regulatory reform hoax is a portent of his departure to cosy, tax-payer funded retirement.
At Estimates on Friday 22 February Mr Carmody said:
Significant progress has been made on finalisation of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations. ... There are only three regulations to go before we call an end to the regulatory development program. Put another way we’re 95% complete.
NOTE: I just transcribed that from the video rather than copied it from Hansard. I’ll post the link to the Hansard when it’s published.
Even if it’s true that CASR is 95% complete - a number that I don’t believe for a second because Mr Carmody seems to be labouring under the misconception that the number of Parts of CASR determines the percentage of work it takes to complete each Part - it does not follow that the
time it will take to complete the program will be only 5% of the duration of the whole program. And he seems to be labouring under the misconception that once CASR is complete, the regulatory reform program will be complete as promised.
If we take a nice conservative, round number, the process has taken over 20 years so far. If 5% of it is remaining and the time it will take to complete that 5% is 5% of the duration of the whole program, it follows that it will take around only a year to complete. There is
no way that the regulatory dog’s breakfast could be turned into a pig’s ear much less a silk purse in a year.
Maybe Mr Carmody is suggesting that once a nice bow is tied around CASR, that plus CAR plus CAOs plus exemptions plus directions plus approvals plus permission plus every other bandaid and piece of sticky tape that’s necessary to keep the dog’s breakfast together is what was promised to be delivered? Perhaps his use of the term “regulatory development program” rather than “regulatory reform program” is an attempt to use weasel words to confuse and provide plausible deniability as to what he was actually predicting. I can’t believe someone from CASA would do that.
It seems like only yesterday - but it’s now been over thirteen years since - one of Mr Carmody’s many predecessors said this:
I would be hopeful that it would not be long after early 2006 that most of the draft rules are delivered to the minister.
Reviewing this thread makes me sick to the stomach: The Regulatory Reform Program will drift along forever