Have the Wolves found the trough, and will they huff and puff and blow the house down??.
Guys it's worth spending a half hour with Hansard – as reported, there was a lot of ducking, weaving and "who me?" going on; the silences could best be described a pregnant, the ammunition live and the body language translated as reaching for a pair of asbestos jocks and a nose guard against nasty things swimming through the trough. Seems the good Senators have found some live rounds and some stationary targets.
Senator McKENZIE: I want to ask something on notice. It goes to the legal fees of the department and the agencies. From my rough calculations to a question on notice, we have over $10 million being spent on legal fees. I would like that broken down. We have $2 million from Airservices Australia. We have $1.7 million from Airservices Australia for another issue. The department has spent $1.2 million with the Australian Government Solicitor. Could I have further detail for the over $1 million in legal bills in the answer to question on notice 25?
Senator EGGLESTON: He says that you have ignored Administrative Appeal Tribunal findings, ignored court findings and sought to prolong this case deliberately to exhaust his financial reserves. He says: 'CASA has in the past treated this matter with total contempt,' and, 'It is about time this nonsense stopped and that CASA was made properly accountable for their outrageous behaviour'. He has a different point of view to you, as I said at the last estimates hearings. I will pursue this matter on Mr Butson's behalf until we get some satisfactory answers
.
Then, there was this from
Ben Sandilands.
Rather like the Tropfest short film festival but for frequent flyers the ATSB has issued four brief, relevant, and occasionally disturbing safety incident reports today in its regular release of inquiries into what are generally seen as secondary occurances.
One concerns a
miscalculation of runway length by the crew of a Qantas 737-400 departing Melbourne Airport, another a navigational and
procedural error by a Virgin Australia E-190 crew approaching Melbourne Airport who by not flying a Tiger Airways jet didn’t receive the royal treatment by CASA, one involving a resources industry operator whose crew stuffed up a
Perth go-around in an Embraer 120 turbo-prop, and another involving a Jetstar A320 that was given a
bum steer by overworked air traffic controllers who punted it into a storm cloud while approaching Brisbane airport.
Gripping reading aside, these are important albeit short reports and an important part of the ATSB’s functions.
There are almost 40 juicy pages to work through in Hansard - can't wait.
Did anyone redord any of it ??????.