KP, when I first visited this website I too counseled principled engagement with CASA as the only way forward. This was based on my own experience in the public service.
However, this only works when both sides are dealing “in good faith” and sadly, as evidenced by the main conclusion of the Forsyth review, this is not the case for according to the review CASA has lost the trust of the industry.
So I now believe Mr. Reith is correct; only the Politicians can fix this mess and you need to grab them by the short and curlies to force reform to happen.
Without reform of The Act and CASA my fears are that we will next see widespread low level corruption, general law breaking as people give up trying to comply, flight of capital, more shonky operators and more and worse accidents. The real damage will be done when Qantas , Virgin and the regionals decide its attractive to start cutting corners to remain competitive.