Correct me if I'm wrong, but McCormick is essentially a public servant, right?
Not sure how it works in Oz but in the UK they deliberately took the function out of the Civil Service, (Board of Trade), and set up the CAA as a separate agency charged with regulating civil aviation. A requirement was that they become self funding, through fees, rather than by tax payers money, this way the user pays but not everyone else as well. CASA could well be a similar such agency, they certainly charge like a wounded bull!
A golden opportunity was missed when they set up CASA, it should have been CASA and Airport Car Parks, aviators would never have had to pay another fee!!!
