Having said all that, the CASA report appears factual, at least to an uneducated PPL like me.
It appears factual Sunny but is it factually correct and written without any undue bias?
If we take a look at 1.1 'History of the flight' (history constructed from the transcript of taped communications between ATC and the aircraft), we find the following:
0801 UTC NADI ATC provides the aircraft with the METAR for YSNF issued at 0630 ZULU. This was then updated with an Auto SPECI for Norfolk issued at 0800 ZULU. Wind 290 at 08 knots cloud overcast (OVC) at one thousand one hundred ft AGL, 21°c and the dew point was 19°c QNH Norfolk 1012.
I think Sunny that even a PPL can tell that there seems to be an obvious omission in the investigator's summary i.e. the 0630 METAR wx details. Oh but lucky Quinny and the 4 corners crew caught it, see here:
MICK QUINN: In review when you look at the actual weather report that was issued, the actual cloud base was not at 6,000 feet. It was at 600 feet.
That indicates to Dominic, it reinforces his mental picture, that the forecast still is as it was, it's even better than what it was when he got the original forecast when he departed.
MARTIN DOLAN: That's not one that I am familiar with at the level of detail in the report so ...
GEOFF THOMPSON: So it might be a mistake.
MARTIN DOLAN: It, it may well be a mistake. I'll have to take a look at that.
GEOFF THOMSON: And he did.
Last Friday the ATSB acknowledged Dominic James received incorrect weather report from Fiji and changed its report.
DOMINIC JAMES: If I'd been told that there was cloud at 600 feet, even given the fact that I suspected the automatic system was overstating the weather at Norfolk, I would've gone to Fiji.
Which kind of makes you think that maybe the ATSB missed that fact because they were reading from the prepared CASA script ala the CASA investigator's report.
The investigators also never make it clear if the pilot had acknowledged receipt of either the 0803 UTC amended TAF or the 0800 UTC auto SPECI. What we really need is a copy of the original unaltered version of the transcript from the taped communications between ATC and the aircraft!!
What I also find quite remarkable is that except for the usual ATSB embellishments the ATSB Final Report almost exactly mirrors that put out by the CASA investigators!
No Sunny there is plenty more to unearth in the CASA (hidden) report!