Having worked and played in Oz aviation pre- and post- Mr Smith's tenure, three thoughts come to mind -
(a) the then Regulator was more paternalistic than rational thought might consider necessary ... so it might be said that there was a need for a bit of a shake up.
(b) as with many of these sorts of events, the swinging of the pendulum analogy is appropriate
(c) the change to make the Regulator directly and functionally accountable to the Minister caused a great many changes to occur ... but I prefer to keep my views as to whether this might have been a good thing to myself. One needs to keep in mind that, in the days of Donald George, the Head was where the buck stopped .. and I am sure that that probably caused eyebrows to be raised occasionally at political level.
Please don't take my comments either to show support for, or antipathy to Mr Smith's activities. My interest is only to show that someone, such as Mr Smith, was needed for a time to give the old guard a little shake up.
Last edited by john_tullamarine; 24th Oct 2005 at 06:34.