Sunny,
James Kimpton, AO, was and is a lawyer, originally from Adelaide, a long time resident of Melbourne.
He was head of "Government Relations" at Ansett, which is, I guess, all about being a lobbyist.
These day, he lectures in aviation law at one of the Victorian universities, and is a former editor of the ALAANZ journal.
In the matter I referred to, in the days of John Anderson, as I understand it, the shutting down of Anderson's planned major shakeup of CASA came from well up the food chain.
It is a pity Anderson didn't go ahead with his plans. Contrary to what many people believe, he had a much greater in-depth knowledge of what needed to be done to break the back of the "CASA Kulture" and make certain that it never re-emerged, than any previous Minister, including Sharp. This despite the fact Sharp was energized by his close involvement in the "Morris" inquiry,and the Monarch crash aftermath. In my opinion, Anderson's reputation as the worst ever Minister responsible for aviation is undeserved, he had both an intuitive and and in-depth understanding of risk management and the importance cost/benefit analysis, and their absolute application in obtaining best possible outcomes for the safety dollar. He carried the can for those that I believe were really responsible --- and bear a heavy responsibility for the position aviation is now in, as far as CASA and ATSB is concerned. It is often said that success had many fathers, failure is an orphan, but we all know that the failure that is the bastard administration of aviation regulation in Australia also has what looks a bit like a Hydra headed monster for a parent --- let us hope that, unlike the original Hydra, one head is not immortal.
One thing Anderson clearly understood was that, in the event of a major disaster in aviation, the Minister would wear the political fallout, regardless of various supposedly "independent" authorities, and took the view (expressed publicly on a number of occasions) that, if he was going to wear the political fallout, he may as well have a measure of real control.
Aviation regulatory development and its administration would be very different now, if he had had his way.
And just as an added bonus, we would have had a truly independent ATSB that was a creature of the Parliament, not a minor authority in an omnibus Department of Transport and Whatever Else Is Thrown In --- in short, just like the NTSB.
Tootle pip!!