Merged: Senate Inquiry

[Frank Arouet]

Just to keep some balance.

CRITICS COWARDLY: CASA boss.
October 30/ 2009. Steve Creedy The Australian.


AIR-SAFETY supremo John McCormick has hit out at "mean-spirited, injudiciously self-serving and frequently false" attacks on Civil Aviation Safety Authority staff.
In a fierce defence of his staff, Mr McCormick said the vindictive public disparagement of individual CASA officers by names or station was wrong, unfair and, in some cases, "downright cowardly".
"It does nothing to advance the interests of our safety or organisational improvement, and it almost certainly is not intended to do either," Mr McCormick told a Senate estimates committee.
"If left unaddressed, it impugns the reputations and integrity of committed, capable and professional individuals who are dedicated to the critical, and sometimes thankless, regulatory and other safety-related tasks.
"And it takes a serious toll on morale of the entire staff in ways, dare I say, some of those who try to conceal what is often nothing more than demagogic vitriol behind the facade of appointed evaluatory critique could not begin to understand."
CASA has often been the target, sometimes justifiably, of industry criticism and has been the subject of repeated investigations and highly critical reports. But the growth of the internet has seen the emergence of websites allowing people operating under pseudonyms to launch angry, disparaging and sometimes defamatory attacks against each other and industry figures.
The CASA boss emphasised that he welcomed balanced, reasonable and constructive advice about where CASA had gone wrong or was perceived to have done so.
Well-meaning criticism, even that which was wide of the mark, would be helpful because it gave a better understanding of the way the authority's actions were perceived and experienced.
"So let me be clear. I have absolutely no interest in discouraging or dissuading our critics from drawing CASA's actual or assumed shortcomings to my attention, to the government's attention, or to the attention of the Australian public," he said.
"As I said, I welcome and embrace this.
"At the same time, however, let me be equally clear in highlighting the very significant difference between candid, robust criticism of CASA's actions as an organisation and what cannot be fairly characterised as other than mean-spirited, injudiciously self-serving and frequently false accusations, and vindictive public disparagement of individual CASA officers by name and station."
On wider issues, Mr McCormick told the committee he had made organisational changes within CASA and a review of the authority's documentation, procedures and practices was under way.
This had involved consultation with the industry, other stakeholders and staff, and he expected "other refinements" to CASA's structure would follow.
The organisation would also provide the industry and wider aviation community with a clearer understanding of how and why it regulated.
It was also moving to address issues about technical training identified in the 2008 International Civil Aviation Organisation audit with a new range of programs that included on-the-job recurrent and specialist training for technical staff.
The new CASA board had formally met twice and Mr McCormick said he was working with members to prioritise ways of finalising the regulatory reform process.
"Four key areas of regulatory reform we are concentrating on are airways, licensing, maintenance and flight operations," he said. "In this process, the industry will be consulted but the practice of the past -- consultation with a view to the achievement of consensus, where consultation frequently resulted in paralysed action, sometimes for years -- cannot and will not continue.
"Consultation does not equate to agreement and, while all views will be seriously considered and taken into account, at the end of the day CASA, as the regulator, is responsible for making, and will make, the final decisions."
The CASA boss said he hoped to have new maintenance regulations made in the first half of next year and that the complete legal drafting of the operational passenger transport licensing rules would be completed by the end of the year.
On the controversial changes to the six GAAP airports, Mr McCormick conceded the moves to reduce the number of aircraft allowed in a circuit and to boost air traffic control clearance requirements had received mixed reviews.
But he said it was a decision that had to be made in the best interests of safety.

"We are committed to closely working with Airservices, as well as with pilots and operators, in the management of each of the six aerodromes to ensure that the changes are implemented in a safe and structured manner."

CASA had also moved a step closer in boosting its presence in northern Australia by identifying new sites on Horn Island, Gove, Kununurra and Broome.

"These stations will all provide better on-site support to CASA inspectors working in the Torres Strait, Arnhem Land and the Kimberley regions. All four of these workplaces are in the process of being opened or very close to being opened."
Low reading on drink and drugs

RANDOM drug and alcohol tests have uncovered few signs of abuse in the aviation industry.
Body: The Civil Aviation Safety Authority revealed last week that 14,273 alcohol tests had thrown up just seven positives, a hit rate of 0.04 per cent.

More than 4000 drug tests had resulted in 17 positives, a rate of 0.4 per cent.

Mandatory drug and alcohol testing of people working in safety-sensitive jobs -- including aircrew, engineers and air-traffic controllers -- took effect in May after a delay caused by worries about false positives.

CASA chief executive John McCormick told a Senate committee the authority had conducted 1245 of the 4091 tests to that point using a saliva test.
When a subject tested positive, Mr McCormick said an accredited laboratory performed a second test.

"If the second test is positive, it returns to the drug and alcohol management program of the organisation and they then conduct an interview and further research into whether there are over-the-counter medications involved, such as codeine, which could have led to a positive test," he said.

"Then there is an assessment carried out about how the person who is positive is treated, and the person who is negative, of course, returns to work in a safety-sensitive position."

Asked about the program's confidentiality provisions, Mr McCormick said he was unaware of any breaches.

He said subjects were given about an hour's notice and tests had been conducted as far away as Broome and Horn Island.