It all started when the CAA was split and ASA was formed as a Government Business Enterprise, therefore no longer a 'public service' but existing to turn a profit and fork out a dividend into the big fat general revenue bucket each year. With status as a GBE, and more importantly transition to TAAATS, came wonderful new management principles...'Business Units', cost cutting, executive bonus's, empire building...and the bureaucracy increased exponentially.
In the mean time the training organisation was gutted (resulting in an Australia Day commendation from the CEO to the guttee...), the training of new controllers essentially stopped, rated controllers continued to leave, either retiring or leaving for the overseas job market ironically opened to them by ASA, and consoles became harder to man. Rather than admit that, while looking sensational on that financial years bottom line, it may have been an error long term in culling the training annex, faith was placed in a magnificent new way of managing less staff more efficiently...SDE. The fact that SDE is in fact less efficient than the previous group/team systems isn't either recognised or accepted at executive level, for obvious reasons, but it's true. And now ATC's have to risk their licence and/or the traveling public's safety to have a wee.
^^^ This is affordable safety.
Last edited by Hempy; 13th May 2012 at 09:47.
Reason: spelin