Mjbow2 is 100% correct when he states
The parliament approved NAS would account for these expenses had it been allowed to be implemented.
Isn’t it amazing? One day an airline aircraft could spear into Mount Barrow because the radar is not being used correctly.
When the Government decided to support NAS, it included the support of increasing the amount of controlled airspace where air traffic controllers would be employed to actually control aircraft, and to maximise the use of radar.
We have already had 6 people die at Benalla – where the radar was not used to its full effectiveness. Do we wait for an airline to crash in Tasmania or Proserpine before we actually use the radar as it is used in other leading aviation countries?
If the system was operated properly, and if the radar service was provided from the Melbourne Centre, the cost would be very small for each passenger in a kero-burner – to use Scurvy D. Dog’s words.
Then again, around the world pilots have resisted change until hundreds of people are killed, and then the changes are made. Just look at Guam, Kathmandu, and Dallas Fort Worth.