Wellconcerned, the success I had regarding the change of policy which resulted in the responsibility for airspace regulation going to the independent safety regulator came solely from the fact that I sent Unsafe Skies to every politician in this country. Many read the document and some contacted me to say they were horrified to hear of the obvious conflict of interest – where a profit making body had regulatory responsibilities.
It is the classic example of democracy at work – i.e. a citizen can communicate to politicians in relation to an issue of great public interest, and the politicians act. It had nothing to do with any letters being written behind the scenes, or any claimed conspiratorial contact with Ministers and people at Airservices. It was all just about plain commonsense, and when it was properly communicated to our parliamentarians, they acted.
Remember, only a few years before, the Department of Transport had written a paper claiming that it would be a conflict of interest for CASA to be responsible for airspace regulation and that it should remain with Airservices.