It's always the same old line about staff shortages but notice how the staff shortage discussion went dead quiet once the payrise deal went through...coincidence?
The staff shortage discussion went dead quiet for the following reason:
Airservices stopped trying to blame airspace closures on controllers taking industrial action.
Mission accomplished, as far as those at the top are concerned. They have had another 12 months of receiving their incredible salary packages, while basically the same circus rolls on.
One might ask why Greg Russell hasn't been brought to account for his claim before senate estimates that the staff shortage would be solved (by the hiring of many new controllers) by August 08. All that's happened is that people are doing $hitloads of overtime and they are spreading people even thinner (see posts above about unmanned console procedures etc.) in order to keep the airpsace open. Yes, the staff have probably contributed to the perception that the staff shortage claim was an industrial furphy by doing all the overtime, but it's probably not a good time to get fired for not doing it, either. How a first world country can have consoles open in order to hide the fact that they don't have the staff to have them manned with a rated controller is just incredible.
In the international arena, AsA is viewed with either admiration (for the gall to get away with such stunts) or as a complete joke. But everyone really appreciates them releasing all those controllers to anybody else that doesn't have enough staff, or has neglected training
So, Baileys, how does it feel to be treated with the contempt that Russell and co do, by swallowing their bull$hit? Do you wonder if they snigger while they count the cash?