The complexity and machinations to do with CASA are getting beyond me, and, I suspect, beyond resolution by the Department and CASA itself. At some point it will become obvious at Cabinet level that a complete overhaul will be required.
That “point” will be an event of some sort that brings aviation safety into the public consciousness. Hopefully that will occur in a relatively benign way - like failing an FAA audit, or an unflattering comparison with other regulators and not in a catastrophic accident.
I wonder if a prescient Minister might forestall such a situation and quietly put a process in place to reform the Act, the regulations - by adopting the FAA/NZ model, and of course restructuring the regulator to separate its various functions.
This, as I have said before, would require a very smart task force led by someone from PM&C.