Great catch Kharon on a well written submission by Brian Aherne. From the submission as below:
c) Lack of independence of the ATSB and its investigators
Email: 6 August 2012. ATSB officer to General Manager Investigations ....Many of my arguments that have been rejected have been ones where I have applied safety management methods and tolls and those arguments have been rejected by a reviewer who looks from a regulatory viewpoint instead….To make useful comments on these matters relies on a belief in and use of contemporary safety management theories and methods. To me this was particularly evident when CASA’s Norfolk Island audit report came into our hands and some of the arguments I had tried unsuccessfully to include in the report were subsequently included on the basis of CASA’s findings not mine! When I have to rely on CASA’s opinion to persuade the ATSB how can I claim that the ATSB is independent when it investigates CASA?
Analysis: This shows that the ATSB undermined the independence of its investigator. It also shows that the ATSB is unduly influenced by CASA or it shows a crisis of confidence at the ATSB. Either way the ATSB is clearly not independent of CASA.
How can "the man at the back of the room....." in Senator Heffernan's terms, come to any conclusion that ATSB was compromised by casa, which surely is not the aim of an independent aviation investigator.
A real question is in this:
How many other atsb investigations have been compromised by casa. A few spring to mind - Monarch, Whyalla, Lockhart River and the odd Coroners Inquiry/ Inquest such as Hemple.