On what SWH said - people who are already in the industry actually don't get preference over people entering the industry, I know of many ATPs, students and operators who have been shafted and delayed on silly issues, time and time again.
Now that the bottom line of CASA is profit (ie. the switch to cost recovery), and that they also have the audacity to charge for their services, they should be expected to provide a service swiftly for that 'sum'.
Bare in mind, the cash carried over to this financial year was around $10m more than Rex's profit (and this is by feeding off the back of the struggling industry!). If it is to be run like a big corporation, then service should be paramount, or the monopoly should be removed.
BTW I have come by many good CASA employees (and a few bad ones). I believe the problems are systemic in the way they do things, and then it branches from there. Time for an overhaul!
How about the old audits - for example the old faithful 210 that gets by through each and every inspection, then one year it'll be grounded for having the wrong model flight manual (the same manual thats probably been with it for a decade).
What about the fining of a Baron for not being secured (when it had 44s in the nacelles).
As chimbu said - the little list of delays such as medical/ASIC/license processing don't quite constitute incompetence. The list gets bigger if you look at operational cock-ups, but you're on the right track! (Too many to think of).