A snippet taken from the 7:30 report 23/3/99. I am not posting this to garnish debate over Mr Smith, that is not the intent. It is to show that in my opinion, the changes needed in CAsA which are monumental, needs to include an entirely new organisation and management structure – Out with the very old and in with the new. It is time to clean out the cupboards. We have had too many inquiries, too many management changes includes DAS’s and CEO’s yet the support structure remains the same, and has done so sine the late 90’s. In fact a couple of members of the GWM were lurking around during part of Dick’s tenure, and still there today in senior roles, and have been around for the tenures of The Ayatoller, Bruce the Magnificent and the Screaming Skull. I only mention that out of interest of course, nothing else intended.
My bolding below;
Transcript
23/03/99
A turbulent career
KERRY O'BRIEN: The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is in further turmoil tonight after the sudden resignation of board member Janine Shepherd.
Her decision comes barely 24-hours after the departure of chairman Dick Smith.
With Australia's air regulator once again in crisis, it remains unclear whether Dick Smith jumped or was pushed.
But, by the time he went, the pressure on him from virtually all sectors of the aviation industry had become all but intolerable.
While the man himself says he had become a target of those trying to hold back necessary reforms, his many critics say it was Dick Smith's style as much as his reforms that so deeply divided those with a stake in air safety.
David Hardaker reports.
JOHN WOODS: Dick was totally isolated because of his personality style, his management style.
MARK BARNETT: I understand that Dick can be a difficult man to work with and when you've got someone with a vision they often are like that.
They're hard to work with and the bureaucrats within CASA -- many of them have been there a long time -- they may feel they can't work with a man like Dick Smith so they entrench themselves.
That's a pity, because may be if they listened to him a bit more, they would have got somewhere.