Sttement of Reasons- Mr. Craig Martin
24/07/2020
Dear Mr Craig Martin,
Under Australian administrative law, persons affected or aggrieved by a decision may be able to apply to the decision-maker, being CASA, for a formal Statement of Reasons.
A Statement of Reasons is available if the decision in question could be appealed to either the AAT155 or the Federal Court under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (ADJR Act)156 and can be obtained by requesting the Statement of Reasons in writing.
While not an avenue of appeal as such, obtaining a Statement of Reasons can assist a person aggrieved by a decision to assess whether they have a case worth appealing, by fully explaining the reasons for a decision and the findings of fact and evidence considered by the decision-maker.
The Administrative Review Council has identified a number of benefits flowing from formal use of Statements of Reasons, namely they: – provide fairness by enabling decisions to be properly explained and defended – assist the person affected to decide whether to exercise rights of appeal or review – improve the quality of decision making – promote public confidence in the administrative process – assist tribunals and courts to better perform an administrative or judicial review.
In your role as CASA Executive Manager of Regulatory Services and Surveillance you made a decision/directive that I am seeking a Statement of Reasons to help me understand the lawfulness of that decision/directive.
As you are fully aware i operated a business operating in the flight training sector. You advised me that all employees had to draw their salary from the one Entity. For clarity, I operated a business called APTA which was the Authorisation Holder with the CASA Part 141 and Part 142 approvals that authorised me to deliver flight training, and under that authorisation i operated a flying school called Melbourne Flight Training (MFT).
CASA placed restrictions on APTAs ability to trade over a period of 8 months. As I advised CASA in writing on 10 occasions those restrictions on the businesses ability to trade would cost me in excess of $10,000 per week, as they did throughout the 8 months. Finally after 8 months the position of that business became untenable and APTA was sold for a fraction of its value to another Party.
You then directed that my flying school, Melbourne Flight Training (MFT), which I had retained, had to transfer its staff to the new owners of APTA.
I am not aware of any legislation that supports your contention. I complied with your direction, and reluctantly transferred my staff to the new owners of APTA. That obviously resulted in the failure of my second business, Melbourne Flight Training, as it no longer had any staff. With the transfer of the staff, obviously the students undertaking training were also transferred, and MFT was denied any revenue. This caused enormous harm to me as my second business had been decimated, as it was denied its revenue streams.
Unfortunately that business, MFT, had continuing obligations to Suppliers which were not transferred, as understandably the new owners of APTA elected to take the revenue, but not the expenses. It also left me with obligations to staff by way of annual leave, redundancy payments etc that i was unable to meet.
The ramifications of your decision has impacted me, and my family but of equal importance it has impacted on many of my past valued and professional employees.
I do not believe that CASA has made this direction to any other aviation business, and that I was specifically targeted. There can be no doubt that many businesses utilise staff that do not draw their salary directly from the Authorisation Holder.
So can you please direct me to any legislation that supports your determination. I am trying to ascertain if i am dealing with legislative requirements or if i am dealing with opinion masquerading as policy, which is what i believe.
Could you please provide a statement of reasons supporting your directive that my staff had to be transferred to another entity.
I hope you will act with good intention and fulfill my request at your soonest opportunity.
Please note that I have included Mr Buss from the Ombudsman's office in this correspondence, the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, and the CASA Board.
Yours respectfully, Glen Buckley