I for one can only surmise; as the Pollies don't listen or care, the Public Service mandarins don't listen or care,
Folks,
It is neither of the above.
Re-read the Robin Speed article.
Then think about a finding of the "Lane" report in the mid-1980's, which identified the
"mystique of air safety" as the mechanism to bluff politicians and non-aviation bureaucrats into believing that "aviation safety" and its maintenance is a specialty known only to the "air safety experts" --- and should be left to them.
In this scenario, the industry, at any level, is the enemy of air safety, and the "public" must be protected from "the industry".
Of course, the general public is right on side with this approach, , "they know" that "Australia's air safety experts" and "Australia's world's best air safety regulations" are the reason that Australia has "the world's best air safety".
Sadly we don't have the world's best air safety record, and never have had. But you would never know from the spin.
"Jet fatalities" are not the only measure of air safety. Indeed, it is reasonable to say that Australia's jet fleet is so small that nil jet fatalities is statistically meaningless, and certainly not a measure of "world's best air safety record" brought about by "world's best air safety regulations".
Tootle pip!!