Ooo-err!
Looks like I’ve done gone and ruffled the wig of the resident lawyer. Well, it’s not the first time I’ve fallen afoul of the legal fraternity!
C.P.,
Firstly, thanks for the explanation of the legislative process. 27 years ago the rule book was less than half the size it is now. My bleat about having to access the regs on the AG’s website was but pining for a simpler time. Back then a pilot was judged by their ability to operate an aircraft safely and efficiently both on the ground and in the air (anybody else remember that definition?!). These days it appears that the standard is now being able to quote chapter and verse from the ever-increasing and unnecessarily complex rules that seem to be designed to catch you out.
The reason every aspect of daily life in Australia is being slowly regulated to death is that Australians keep electing dumb and dumber governments who are very happy to keep pumping out laws as fast as they can be made. Governments consider the making of a law to be an ‘achievement’ and ‘progress’. (Look at what the current government claims to be among its successes: the passage of thousands of pages of primary legislation that ultimately do only one of two things: tax the populace or create new criminal offences.)
Agree – mostly. However you have to concede that the increasingly litigious nature of our society is a key factor here. CASA are just tin-plating their asses here. And guess what – they’re not Robinson Crusoe in that regard.
The reason governments get away with it is because punters like CSD blame the regulators.
Not just the regulators. And don’t call me a punt.