To anyone affected by the closure of MFT i.e. staff and suppliers
To All Suppliers of MFT.
I am in a very difficult situation.
CASA placed several restrictions on my parent company, APTA and its ability to conduct business in October of 2018. This lead to the sale of APTA recently, and it’s now under new ownership.
Importantly, at no stage was the CASA action based on any allegations of safety concerns. Also, at no stage have there been any allegations of regulatory breaches that CASA has been prepared to substantiate.
The fact is, there have been no regulatory or safety breaches. None!
CASA actions,
· Reduced our “surety of operations”, to never more than 90 days into the future.
· Prevented me marketing · Prevented me enrolling new customers
· Prevented me renewing approvals as they expired.
· Prevented me adding new approvals.
In October 2018, I identified to CASA that those restrictions on my business, would cost me at least $10,000 per week, to sustain operations until the CASA imposed restrictions were lifted.
Over the last 9 months, I have had to call on MFT to financially support APTA operations, as I had several other operators also depending on APTA for their own continuing operations. It was anticipated that CASA would resolve their confusion in a matter of weeks. I could not possibly have imagined it would continue for over 9 months, and still be unresolved. Those restrictions on my ability to trade have continued throughout the last 9 months, as has the associated stress on both me and the business. I now find myself in the current situation.
CASA has insisted on something they call “direct operational control” and this has required me to transfer all MFT operations to APTA, with the associated income going to APTA (under new ownership) and not to MFT (which I still own). This makes resolution of my current situation almost impossible, but I have called on CASA to define, “direct operational control”. Once I have that defined, it may be possible that MFT can continue, and I can derive revenue from MFT. At this stage there is much uncertainty.
Moving forward
The reality is that I have exhausted everything in fighting with CASA to maintain APTA. I have been left with nothing. No home, no business, no savings and no job, so I cannot promise an easy resolution.
I can assure you, there is not a higher level of shame, guilt and embarrassment that a human being can have, than to owe money, to friends and people that have supported him. I do not have a solution to put to you at this stage. I have no intention of running away or hiding from my responsibilities. I will be working for as long as it takes in an endeavour to ensure that every one of you is paid 100%. No haggling, and no discounting. It is a big call, and that is why I need your input.
As suppliers you have the right to act against me and have me declared bankrupt. I respect that, and can accept, and understand that stance. To be frank, to be declared bankrupt, and go and start a simpler life and concentrate on looking after my family is the easier path, and in the interests of my health, probably the sensible path.But I will head down the path of resolution, and as the saying goes. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
I want to meet face to face wherever possible and call on those engagements to be respectful. I appreciate that several people are seriously affected, and not just myself. With the restructure in APTA, I don’t have the admin support that I had previously, and as you will appreciate, I have a lot going on. If you have an invoice for MFT, or are a staff member with an entitlement, could you please resend it through to a new email that I have created; [email protected] With the significant change of personnel in the office I need to collate this information accurately in the one spot.
Could I also call for a meeting at 4PM on Friday 30th August. I will advise a venue, but it will be at Moorabbin Airport. If someone cannot attend on site, please let me know, and I will arrange video-conference facilities. Please RSVP by text 0418772013, if you can attend. I will provide light refreshments (bread and water is all I can promise at this stage, but will swing past Aldi for any cakes approaching their "best before")
At that meeting I would like to:
· Stand in front of you;
· Introduce you to each other;
· Assess priority suppliers. i.e. I would call on bigger businesses to help me prioritise any individuals or smaller businesses for payment ahead of them wherever practical;
· Place several options to you for consideration;
· Have a robust, truthful and well-intentioned respectful discussion.
I genuinely want to get money where it belongs (the people I owe money to) and not in the hands of lawyers and accountants; I feel we can hopefully resolve this.
Thank you for your consideration, and more importantly, your support to date.For those that have a deeper interest in my issues please follow the following link https://www.pprune.org/pacific-general-aviation-questions/620219-australian-small-business-v-casa.html
Respectfully, Glen.