Senate Inquiry into CASA.

[Creampuff]

There's a simple lesson in all this: don't put a pilot in charge!

9 July 1997 Ministerial Press Release:

Two new appointments have been made to strengthen the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Board.

They are: Dr Paul Scully-Power, Australia's first astronaut (who travelled aboard the Challenger shuttle in 1984) and an aviation technical adviser, and Mr Bruce Byron AM, former RMF Wing Commander and expert aviation examiner.

Both appointments are in keeping with the Howard Government's commitment to have members on the CASA Board with the appropriate aviation experience, capable of questioning, challenging and monitoring the activities of the CASA bureaucracy - which in turn is responsible for enforcing aviation safety standards for all travellers.

The Government is determined to ensure that Australia has a world class aviation safety system.

The strengthening of the seven-member CASA Board, together with a range of other initiatives to improve the way aviation safety regulation is conducted in Australia, will enhance the effectiveness of our safety regulatory system.

Last year the Government launched the broadest review of aviation safety regulations in Australia's history.

Aviation is a complex and detailed industry that requires people to administer it who have appropriate qualifications relevant to aviation.

Attached are career details of the two appointees, who replace Ms Gabi Hollows and Mr Geoff Molloy.

Media enquiries:

Adam Connolly, 02 9251 9284

DR PAUL SCULLY-POWER: (NASA Astronaut and Aviation technical adviser). Age 53. Born in Sydney and educated at St Pius X College, Chatswood and the University of Sydney.

Dr Scully-Power is an internationally awarded expert in aviation matters. He joined the Royal Australian Navy as a pilot in 1967 and is Australia's first astronaut, flying on NASA's space shuttle Challenger in 1984.

Qualified as a high-performance jet pilot, he has been a flight crew instructor in the astronaut office and was a principal investigator for NASA's infra-red HCMM satellite program and for the joint US-USSR Apollo-Soyux manned spaceflight program.
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From the Senate Hansard of 8 November 2000:

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Civil Aviation Safety Authority: Operations

Senator O'BRIEN (3.07 p.m.)—I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government (Senator Ian Macdonald), to questions without notice asked by Senator O'Brien today, relating to the Board of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

If we are to believe parts of Senator Macdonald's answer today, we must conclude that he needs a quick lesson in history. Who was John Sharp? He was the second most senior National Party member of the first Howard government—in fact, he was a cabinet minister. So if Senator Macdonald would seriously have us believe that he does not know who Mr Sharp is, perhaps that quick lesson will bring him up to speed. Obviously he has some short-term memory problems.

Mr Sharp had a few ideas about aviation—which distinguishes him from his successors and particularly from the current Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Mr Anderson, who obviously has no idea about aviation. He certainly does not want to get his hands dirty because he has no idea what he is doing. Turning to Senator Macdonald's answer today—particularly his answer to my lead question—the minister said, as he did on Monday, that the government does not believe—I can believe that because it now knows—and has never believed that Dr Scully-Power is a high-performance jet pilot. That is, frankly, not believable; it is not the truth.

The press release of 9 July 1997 issued by the then cabinet minister Mr John Sharp—from which I will quote—contains a passage from the CV of Dr Paul Scully-Power. It states:

Dr Scully-Power is an internationally awarded expert in aviation matters. He joined the Royal Australian Navy as a pilot in 1967 and is Australia's first astronaut, flying on NASA's space shuttle Challenger in 1994.

Qualified as a high-performance jet pilot ...

If the government did not believe in 1997 that Dr Paul Scully-Power was `qualified as a high-performance jet pilot' why did cabinet member and then minister for transport, Mr Sharp, issue such a press release? Of course the answer is because that is what he believed. He is telling journalists now that that is what he believed at the time and, more importantly, that is what he conveyed to other board members. It was an important factor in the appointment of Dr Scully-Power to his position. That is what the government believed.

I do not understand why Minister Anderson—through his representative in this place, Senator Macdonald—cannot fess up and say, `Look, we now know that Dr Paul Scully-Power was never a high-performance jet pilot. We now know that was never true. The cabinet was misled and we are looking into the matter.' The fact is that this minister does not want to look into such matters because he knows that a can of worms is lurking in aviation that he will have to do something about.

Can we really believe the government is completely satisfied with the performance of CASA, and of Mr Toller in particular, after a unanimous committee report about the debacle of an investigation of a company called Arcas led to the demotion of Mr Foley, Assistant Director, Aviation Safety Compliance? That action was occasioned by a Senate committee report. It was not initiated by CASA but provoked by the actions of the Senate. If it has cost CASA $90,000 to answer questions, I do not have any problems with that: if that is the cost of CASA's accountability, it is cheap. The fact is that CASA and Minister Anderson were doing nothing about the Arcas matter and something happened because of a Senate committee report. There has been counselling of Mr Toller. We have had misrepresentation by the chairman of CASA about his aviation qualifications and today we have had the revelations—which were confirmed by the minister—of a move by at least one of the two national airlines to see the director of CASA, Mr Toller, stood aside.

When will this government do something? If Mr Anderson is not prepared to act—if he does not want to get his hands dirty on aviation—why will the Prime Minister not step in and replace him? There has been a failure of government administration in this matter. Unless the government is prepared to act, the crisis of confidence in CASA and throughout the aviation industry will only grow. This government needs to act. We have ample evidence that there is a crisis in CASA and the government must act now. (Time expired)