Gobbledock - I think you will find there has been no interference in CASA by Government on account of the Westminster doctrine. Governments set policy and make law they do not and cannot implement such laws nor can they influence the decisions taken by a government body such as CASA. As far as I can see and as far back as I can remember CASA have got everything they have asked for in regulatory terms and policy support. When threatened with change or demands for accountability CASA simply has to put up the bogey man - 'Safety' and all the pollies run for cover, they do not spend the time to either understand or put in the time to find out, ergo, they continue to accept the unchallenged blandishments offered by government departments such as CASA as to what is what or what is not what. The public is no better they just want to depart and arrive safely and in case you had not noticed 80% of the populace hate flying anyway and have no interest in the subject.
The fact is there is no incentive or pressure on the bureaucrats to hasten change or consider alternatives and as long as it all sticks then Ministers will not consider any alternatives they just don't want bad press or questions in the house that cast their government or their departments in a negative way not when they have more important political agendas - the political game of staying in power.
You would clearly have to also recognise that there is no critical scrutiny in the mainstream media of air safety (crash coverage merely feeds the drama human interest angle for the media) and virtually none at all of aviation administration (industry focused news does not sell papers or advertising time) there will be no critical scrutiny at a political level. So all you have to do is write the occasional press release claiming its all going swimmingly and nobody will question the underlying reality.
So regulatory reform will go on and on and on!