Following the accident, the partner of the pilot had given the hand-written list of defects to a BASIS inspector who expressed to the partner that as the aircraft was 25 years old, these sort of defects can be expected.
The BASIS inspector was probably right. There would be hundreds of general aviation aircraft around Australia and currently flying that would be 25 years old or more. Based on the logic expressed by the BASIS inspector there would be hundreds of maintenance releases with numerous defects logged but with the aircraft still flying. .
More likely of course, those maintenance releases remain squeaky clean - just like the maintenance release of Partenavia VH-IXH before the aircraft hit Gregadoo Hill.
I recall an LAME being concerned about a damaged nose-wheel of a Partenavia brought into his hangar with every indication it had sustained the damage during a landing but not recorded in the maintenance release. When questioned if he thought CASA should be involved he agreed adding he would lose future work if it got around he had contacted CASA. Needless to say he failed to contact CASA despite the substantial damage to the nose wheel.