From Australian Flying - last Minute Hitch 19 Nov 2021
You heard it here first: CASA is working on a new Class 5 medical status, which hints at PPLs being able to fly VH-registered aircraft on a self-declared medical. A technical working group has the matter in hand, and I expect we'll see something go out for public consultation sometime next year. We should applaud now, but hold the standing ovation until we see exactly what CASA releases. Both the UK and the USA have had self-certification for a number of years, and in neither case has it resulted in an increase in aeroplanes dropping out of the sky. However, this is not likely to be a simple wiping-out of the Class 2 medical; it will come with conditions. The USA's BasicMED, for example, limits self-certification to aircraft certified for no more than five passengers and aircraft below 2721 kg MTOW. Curiously, the pilot must also maintain a driver's licence. So we can expect that CASA will probably apply restrictions to Class 5; they will likely limit it by weight and could ban Class 5s from CTA. But all this is second-guessing before the first-guessing has been done. The TWG still needs to thrash through the issue and present CASA with a solution that is not only acceptable to the GA community, but also is practical and brings about the results we all want: lower costs and less red tape.
Lets hope we live long enough to see it implemented.....!