Don't you feel sorry for the Minister?
Really, if she understood her responsibilities what is she going to do first?
Air (No) Services failing to comply with all manner of Air Safety Regulations in CAR 172 and arguably not meeting the conditions for holding an Air Traffic Services licence, insufficient staff, insufficient supervision, failing to meet the required standards, failing to comply with the required safety management system and on and on.............
.Minister King: golly, gosh, gee whizz what do I do about Airservices??
Civil Aviation Safety Authority not doing what it is supposed to do:
CASA's functions (1)
CASA has the function of conducting the safety regulation of the following, in accordance with this Act and the regulations:
..................................
(c) developing and promulgating appropriate, clear and concise
aviation safety standards;
(d) developing effective enforcement strategies to secure compliance with
aviation safety standards;
(e) issuing
certificates,
licences, registrations and permits;
(f) conducting comprehensive aviation industry surveillance, including assessment of safety-related decisions taken by industry management at all levels for their impact on aviation safety;
(g) conducting regular reviews of the system of civil aviation safety in order to monitor the safety performance of the aviation industry, to identify safety-related trends and risk factors and to promote the development and improvement of the system;
etc etc ad nauseum but that is enough for now
CASA has issued AirServices with licences to provide ATS services to the Standards in the Manual of Standards, yep, we have Standards and we have licences, so far so good.
But AirServices is manifestly incapable and not having the required staff to deliver services to the requrired standards.
Has CASA instituted surveillance and has it noticed what the whole aviation world knows? A(n)SA is not meeting the legal requirements for staff, for supervision, for safety management, for meeting the standards.
Has CASA taken any enforcement action? How many prosecutions are before the Courts? None?
Minister King: golly, gosh, gee whizz what do I do about CASA????
Then there is ATSB
The ATSB's function is to improve safety and public confidence in the aviation, marine and rail modes of transport through excellence in:
- independent investigation of transport accidents and other safety occurrences;
- safety data recording, analysis and research; and
- fostering safety awareness, knowledge and action.
An investigation conducted by the ATSB under the TSI Act is independent of other interests, such as commercial and regulatory ones.
Even in my wildest dreams of perfection I do not see the ATSB investigating AsA's lack of adequate services and CASA's lack of efffective action to fix the problems yet ATSB is, by design, the last safety check on the system.
Minister King:
golly, gosh, gee whizz what do I do about ATSB missing in action (Ah, sorry, ATSB just might be conducting an urgent investigation, results due by 2026)