Err...back to the thread perhaps??
The hardworking Hansard boys'n'gals are obviously having probs deciphering the great Fort Fumble bullyboy debate and as a consequence have only released the more sedate deliberations and questions after the dinner break...featuring the great thick skinned mi..mi..mi..Beaker!!
Note: Whatever we think of Beaker you've got to admire an individual, who'd have trouble lying straight in bed, that can still front up and continue to stare down perhaps his biggest critics! Come on Minister or someone just put the poor bugger out of his misery...
Anyway back to the Hansard that is relevant to the thread:
Senator XENOPHON: So you have not reconsidered your interpretation of ICAO annex 13 in relation to the retrieval of the cockpit voice recorder in the Pel-Air ditching?
Mr Dolan: More broadly speaking and specifically to that question, the recommendations that came out of the committee's report as they referred to the ATSB as an independent agency will be reviewed by the commission of the ATSB—me and my fellow commissioners—so it is not just a decision for me but for the three of us acting collectively in accordance with our legal responsibility.
Senator XENOPHON: In the financial year that the Pel-Air ditching occurred, you were within budget, weren't you? You were not over budget at the end of that year.
Mr Dolan: We had a surplus at the end of that year, correct.
Senator XENOPHON: So you cannot say that the decision not to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder was due to budgetary constraints, because by the end of that financial year you still had a surplus.
Mr Dolan: I still had to have regard to the likely and projected costs of recovery, what my available resources were and what I needed to do with them.
Senator XENOPHON: It is another jurisdiction, but I think the ATSB is involved in Indonesia and does provide assistance. In the recent crash of a Lion Air 737 off Bali earlier this year, the cockpit voice recorder was retrieved at a great cost and difficulty even though the crew survived, because annex 13 requires it and the international community expects it. Is there any possibility that you will reconsider the decision not to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder in relation to the Pel-Air incident?
Mr Dolan: There is a possibility—in fact, there is the certainty—that the commissioners will reconsider it. That is part of our review of the recommendations of the committee. Once we have done that, we will report back on the results of our consideration.
Senator XENOPHON: And when do you think that will be reconsidered?
Mr Dolan: At this stage—and I need to have further discussions with my fellow commissioners—we have a scheduled formal commission meeting on 24 July. At this stage, that is when we would expect to consider all the recommendations of the committee.
Senator XENOPHON: I think Senator Edwards raised this during the inquiry. Is there a possibility that ATSB will consider reopening that investigation based on the findings of the Senate committee report?
Mr Dolan: We have a recommendation in front of us from the committee that says that we should do that and we will have due regard to that recommendation.
Senator XENOPHON: The committee has criticised the ATSB in relation to its report on the Pel-Air ditching. You are now in a position to reconsider whether you ought to reopen the investigation. Do you think it is appropriate that an independent person outsourced by the ATSB—an aviation expert—make recommendations as to whether it ought to be reopened given that there is a fundamental conflict? It is sort of like Caesar judging Caesar in the context of what ought to be done with respect to reopening the investigation.
Mr Dolan: I hear what you are saying, Senator. A matter obviously I would have to discuss with my fellow commissioners is what information and advice they may wish to rely on in reconsidering the decision that has been made.
Senator XENOPHON: Do you think it is appropriate that there be some independent assessment as to whether the investigation be reopened given that there would be, on the face of it, an apparent conflict with the board effectively having to make a call as to whether it should be critical of its previous report?
Mr Dolan: No, I do not. I see that our responsibilities as the commissioners of the ATSB in meeting the functions of the organisation are something that we are required to appropriately consider. What information we draw on to make those considerations I think is a matter for us.
Senator EDWARDS: Are you seriously considering judging yourselves on this information again?
Mr Dolan: We are seriously considering weighing all the information that has been available through the Senate committee and other material that might come to light in making our decision as we are required to do under our legislation.
Mr Mrdak: Clearly these are matters which the government will need to consider in the light of the Senate committee's report.
Senator EDWARDS: Sure, I am trying to give you some guidance.
Mr Mrdak: We do appreciate that. Mr Dolan is quite correctly putting the position of the commission regarding its legislation. The matters that have been raised in the report and the issues both Senator Xenophon and Senator Edwards have just raised are matters that we will put to the minister as part of the government's response.
That Senator Edwards is priceless the few times he has stepped in, remember.. "Mea culpa after mea culpa..." oh way back when??
Hmm just thinking on 'high impact vs low impact' and Robo helos...something in there me thinks??
Senator XENOPHON: Thank you. I want to ask Mr Dolan to take something on notice. Going back to the R44 accidents that occurred in 2003, 2006 and 2008, my understanding is that four people died in each of these accidents, so 12 in total. Can you provide information on notice as to whether they were categorised as high-impact accidents and whether there was an appropriate engineering or other expert assessment undertaken as to whether retrofitting of the aircraft with the safety bladder for the fuel tanks would have made any difference?
Mr Dolan: I can say in each of the cases there was no direct consideration given to the retrofitting issue, which was a subsequent issue from Robinson Helicopter. We can certainly give you the information that relates to our assessment essentially of the survivability questions related to those three accidents.
Senator XENOPHON: Which will go to the issue of how high the impact was et cetera. Thank you.
Doin a Kelpie!