None of you is helping the cause of better safety regulation, better accident investigation and better air services provision.
One of the reasons CASA is effective in downplaying criticism is the patent hyperbole used by some of its critics. Lying? Corruption? Nazi comparisons?
I'm assuming that you don't know how stupid it looks, because if you did you wouldn't post it.
You accuse individuals in CASA of lying and being corrupt, when that’s not the problem (at least not in this case or in any other case of which I’m aware).
The problem is that the sum of the individual parts in the system does not produce a whole that is competent to deal expeditiously and appropriately with everything with which the system is expected to deal. In that kind of system, the expedience of the ‘blame the pilot’ line in the Pel-Air ditching is, understandably, irresistible, but undesirable.
Each of the individuals in the system disclaims responsibility for the system’s failure to deal competently with, for example, completion of the regulatory reform program, following up recommendations arising out of investigations and coronials, and ensuring there’s clarity of AIS information responsibilities for aircraft inbound to Norfolk. Bob was overseas at the time, George was in a different job at the time, Fred only joined a year ago.
From the Hansard of the 22 October 2012 hearing:
Senator FAWCETT: There is actually a broader issue, though, Mr McCormick. There is no closed-loop system so that recommendations that are made by ATSB, that CASA agrees—particularly we have seen a number where, in a coroner's court, the coroner has said, 'We'll close out this issue, because ATSB made a recommendation and CASA said they will do it,' and then a decade later there is has been no action. Is that an issue for the travelling public? I hear you that you were not there for that whole 10 years, but we are talking about a system now, not personalities. Is the system not working as it should?
Mr McCormick: I cannot speak for what happened in 2000. I only got here in 2009. …
Senator FAWCETT: Mr Boyd, were you around?
Mr Boyd: Yes, but not in that position.
Senator NASH: Anybody else? Mr Farquharson? Dr Aleck?
Dr Aleck: I was in Montreal. [CP note: Apart from the stint in Montreal, Dr Aleck has occupied various senior management positions within CASA for an accumulated period of about 10 years to the present.]
[CP Note: Messrs Farquharson and Anastasi, both of whom have been in CASA for all or most of the period 1999 to the present, were also at the table but, according to Hansard, remained silent.]
So there we have a sizeable chunk of the senior management of CASA, including the person who’s in effect CASA’s PIC, and each of them considers himself to have no responsibility for a commitment made by CASA, on the public record, which remains unfulfilled 10 years later. There are numerous other examples.
By implication, each of those persons, including the CEO, is saying it’s not his responsibility to inform himself of, or to progress the resolution of,
any issue, except for the ones that land in his
own ‘in’ tray
after arrival in his
current position.
The Committee got effectively the same line from Airservices.
That commitment was made before I took over as CEO. Why would it be my problem?
It was my job to deliver on that commitment, but I moved to a different job in the organisation before it was delivered. Why would it be my problem?
I was aware the commitment was made, but I didn’t move across to the job of delivering on those kinds of commitments until later. Why would it be my problem?
We’re all aware that the commitment was made. Someone (else) will (hopefully) get on with doing something about, soon.
Airservices witness one day: We’re waiting for a safety recommendation.
ATSB witness a different day: We don’t issue safety recommendations, because proactive action to address safety issues is more effective.
No one’s lying.
Everyone’s doing their blinkered bit to the best of his her abilities.
But that’s not good enough, because no one’s responsible for patently obvious systemic problems (unless you're the PIC of NGA...)
That is why the Committee – the whole Committee – is so frustrated and astonished by what it’s hearing.