Fellow ppruners, you need to understand something about administrative law which may make Dick's actions somewhat clearer. It has nothing to do with the matter contained in his application and everything to do with what CASA is supposed to do.
An administrative body, such as CASA, has certain powers given to it under the legislation and some of those powers include the authority to make a decision on certain matters. Note, the power is to make a decision, yes or no. It is not a power to sit on it's fat nether regions and not make a decision at all.
There is bags of case authority on the matter all of which points to the decision maker having to make a decision. I would think that Dick is probably on an odds on favourite to win here should it go that far.