[T]he priority is to lift safety standards…
There is, in my opinion, no need to “lift” safety standards.
There is, in my opinion, a chronic need to:
- interpret the existing safety standards consistently, and
- secure compliance with the existing safety standards, consistently and effectively.
That CASA knowingly permits commercial passenger carrying operations to be carried out in circumstances for which an AOC is required (e.g. parachute operations in which punters off the street pay to be carried in aircraft) is a scandal.
That CASA knowingly permits commercial flying training operations to be carried out in circumstances for which an AOC is required (e.g. RAA Aus charging money to train its members) is a scandal.
CASA has no power to exempt anyone from the requirement for an AOC authorising operations for which an AOC is required. CASA’s job is to enforce the requirement, not turn a blind eye to it.
The standards are already there.
Australians are entitled to have those standards enforced, consistently and effectively.