Very sad news.
Their latest here, following an incident on a private flight that was not a maintenance issue, is to tell me as registered operator that I am responsible for every single thing a private pilot does when hiring an aircraft I operate.
They have invented an AOC that I don't have, line pilots I don't have, fuel policy that is not the policy in my manuals, correspondence that was never received and reinvented the difference in responsibilities between an Operator and a Pilot in Command. For good measure they have added some subjective comments about my personality. (Yes I stand up for myself when faced with false accusations).
So not content with driving flying schools to the brink, they now want to shut down all private hire as well by making the operator liable for every action and decision made by the PIC as well as airworthiness. The result will be that the only way a pilot will be able to build Pilot In Command time will be to buy and operate their own aircraft.
I suppose I should be grateful, I know how hard it is to get an AOC, I had one for 20 odd years... and this CASA guy has just created one from thin air! You couldn't make it up!
.