Yes. This farce started years before 1999, it’s nowhere near complete, and the current status is a camel that’s 4 times the size and has many more humps than what they started with.
Meanwhile, the important work of the task force (keeping Dick distracted during the lead up to the election) has begun. It’s had a
meeting!
Senator O’BRIEN—What will the reporting relationship be between the task force and CASA?
Mr Mrdak—Mr Byron is a member of the task force. The task force will report to the minister. Mr Byron, as a member of the task force, will have a part to play in its advice.
Senator O’BRIEN—Has the task force met yet?
Mr Mrdak—Yes, it has.
Mr Ford—The task force has had one meeting. It was on 14 May.
Senator O’BRIEN—A week ago. Does it have terms of reference?
Mr Mrdak—Yes, it does.
Senator O’BRIEN—Are they public?
Mr Mrdak—They are not. I can take that on notice. The minister has written to the chair of the task force setting out his expectations and the area he wishes to have the task force cover. I will take that on notice to see if that can be made available to the committee.
Senator O’BRIEN—Thank you for that. Do you know if it has yet established a work program, who it will consult and when it will report?
Mr Mrdak—The initial meeting of the committee last week did establish a meeting schedule and initial areas of focus for its work—initially looking at parts of the civil aviation regulations which are under development, particularly, and I will check this with Mr Ford, part 91.
Mr Ford—Yes, it is part 91. The task force has decided to focus initially on some high priority areas of the regulatory framework. Part 91 is one of those.
Senator O’BRIEN—Remind me what is in part 91.
Mr Mrdak—It principally covers general flying rules and procedures.
Senator O’BRIEN—What is the term of the appointments of the members of the task force?
Mr Mrdak—They have been asked to provide a report to the minister by December this year.
Senator O’BRIEN—Are sitting fees paid to members of the task force?
Mr Mrdak—Terms and conditions are yet to be settled. It is yet to be finalised what remuneration will be made available to the task force. We are currently working through that.
Senator O’BRIEN—But some will?
Mr Mrdak—We are looking at options to do that, yes. It is envisaged that there will be some remuneration for their time involved or at least a meeting of their costs.
Senator O’BRIEN—Is there a standard fee for the chair of such a task force? Mr Mrdak—There are provisions through the Remuneration Tribunal for such special purpose tasks, and we are currently doing some work with the rem tribunal to ascertain what is the most appropriate remuneration for the task force chair and the members.
Senator O’BRIEN—Will you take it on notice to supply the committee with those details when they are established, or do I have to do it through another process?
Mr Mrdak—I would be happy to advise the committee when those arrangements are finalised and established.
Hopefully the first meeting was taken up with the important work of setting an action item to develop a plan to forward to the minister about when they plan to have their report to the minister, and that the action item will hopefully be completed in the next couple of months.
If there’s any substantive output from this before the election, I’ll run nude through the Tabernacle.