Someone pointed me to a Hansard extract in which the Airservices CEO was asked when they became aware of the problem with governance and process with regard to the implementation of the NAS. He responded that it was around 11 December.
I understand that the frustrated employee, sometime in September, formally handed his boss a memo in which he stated that he was unable to exercise his delegated power in relation to re-classifying Class C to Class E and still behave in accordance with Section 9 of their Act, that is to retain safety of air navigation as the most important consideration.