ADHD/ASD and CASA medicals

[Clinton McKenzie]

As stated at post #45, I submitted this FOI request to CASA on 24 November 2022 in the following terms:

All documents containing, in whole or part, information about or recording any one or more or all of:

• the catalyst for the decision to remove the sentence: “Hopefully does not get out of seat in flight!” from CASA Form 420
• the process through which that decision was made
• the individuals involved in that process, including the individual who made the decision
• the matters taken into consideration or discussed, or both, by those individuals in the course of the process and in making the decision
• the implementation of the decision after it was made, including the process through which the Form 420 without the sentence: “Hopefully does not get out of seat in flight!” replaced the version of the Form with that sentence on CASA’s website.

Subject to one exception, I do not request access to the name, work email address or work or mobile phone number or other personal information of any official. The exception is that I seek access to the names of the individuals involved in the decision making process and the decision the subject of this request. I do not request access to any personal information of individuals who are not officials. For the purposes of this request “official” has the same meaning as in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

In short, I am trying to find out how the words were airbrushed out of history.

Today I received the response to my request:

I have conducted a thorough search of our records, including CASAs records management system, a vault search of our email records and consulted with the relevant business areas. I have concluded there is no relevant documentation available to provide in relation to the removal of the sentence “Hopefully does not get out of seat in flight!” from CASA Form 420.

Following my conversations with the business areas and the relevant staff involved in the form revision, it appears to me it is likely this change was made as a result of a verbal discussion that was not documented.

The lack of records of the decision-making and administrative processes through which changes are made to forms published by a government authority and relied on in decision-making is a manifestation of an organisation lacking corporate integrity. The words have simply been airbrushed out of history. That's "transparency" and "accountability" in 21st century CASA.

I intend to submit another FOI request to CASA today in the following terms:

All documents containing, in whole or part, information about or recording any one or more or all of:

• the provenance of any version of CASA Form 420
• the drafting of any of the content of any version of CASA Form 420
• the approval of the content of any version of CASA Form 420, and
• the authorisation for publication of any version of CASA Form 420.

I request access to the names of officials appearing in the above documents but I do not request access to their work email address or work or mobile phone number or other personal information other than their name. For the purposes of this request “official” has the same meaning as in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.