Ever wondered how much Australian Tax Payer money the Executive leadership at the Civil Aviation Safety Authority take home each year?
Take a look at the remuneration paid to key management 2022-23:
- Pip Spence: $618,254 (CEO/DAS)
- Rob Walker: $325,866 (Regulatory Oversight)
- Jonathan Aleck: 403,488 (Legal)
- Philippa Crome: $387,190 (Executive Manager Corporate)
- Simon Frawley: $290,303 (CFO)
- Chris Monahan: $415,241 (National Operations Standards)
- Andrew Sparrow: $316,823 (Executive Manager Transformation)
- Andreas Marcelja: $341,895 (Stakeholder/Spin Doctor)
Now think about this... over the past 11 years CASA Executives have happily gorged on $34.1million in Australian Tax Payer money and during this time have failed to deliver any meaningful result on pilot medical reform. Whilst in contrast, their international peers in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States reformed their regulatory systems 7 years ago.
With just 32,849 pilots in Australia, each of us have paid over $1,000 in taxes for CASA to deliver 11 years of medical certification reform failure.
Where is the accountability for these wholesale reform failures inside of CASA? Why is there no oversight?
When will our Ministers and Senators start asking the hard but necessary questions regarding this abuse of Tax Payer funding?
Our Parliamentarians should be calling for an immediate RRAT inquiry into this debacle and requesting the meeting diaries and every last document produced by key CASA staff in relation to pilot medical certification reform, so the nation can see just how little has been done in 11 years. It's time to peel back the veil and take a hard long look at the productivity of CASA.
CASA seem to have no difficulty in finding the resources and time for conferences and international travel, they have no issue funding and investing time into Rainbow Skies, Diversity programmes and other non-aviation safety regulatory activities, yet seem to have no time or budget to perform the actual job they are there to do.
The Parliament must take action.
Have I got this wrong? Am I alone in my disgust? Would love to hear everyone's thoughts.
BENJAMIN MORGAN
CEO, AOPA Australia
**Image from the CASA Annual Report 2022-23