Truss: Aviation Safety Regulation Review

[Sarcs]

Laborial rubberstamp on CAA (Board) amendment bill

The following poohtube vid captures the tailend of the Albo speech (18/03/14) that Creamy quotes from. It more than highlights the political dilemma the aviation industry has found itself in for the better part of 3 decades i.e. the Laborial approach to aviation safety regulation:

Albo & Laborial rubberstamp on CAA (Board) amendment bill - 18/03/14 - YouTube

Albo’s concern on the government considering funding cut backs to the ATsB is extremely laughable and beyond the pale when you consider Senator Fawcett’s press release on 30 May 2013:

AVIATION SAFETY AT RISK UNDER GOVERNMENT BUDGET CUTS

It has been revealed in Senate Estimates this week that aviation safety has been given a lower priority than the desperate attempt at balancing the budget by the Gillard government.

On questioning by Senator David Fawcett, the Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB), Mr Martin Dolan, revealed that the substantial cuts to the ATSB budget were imposed on them without consultation and necessarily eroded the capacity of ATSB to complete the range of activities expected of it.

Mr Dolan highlighted that the cuts resulted in reducing staff numbers and choosing not to investigate some matters or constraining an investigation because of the call on his resources.

This is a serious dereliction of duty by the Gillard government given Minister Albanese’s declaration in 2008 that “nothing, I repeat nothing, is as important in aviation as safety”.

The Senate report into aviation safety released just last week highlights the unintended consequences of cutting funds to a safety agency.
“The Gillard government stands condemned for these grossly irresponsible cuts to Australia’s aviation safety investigator,” Senator Fawcett said.

The Albo rubberstamp for the Board amendment bill means that it is then passed onto the Federation Chamber for further 2nd reading debate (which Creamy drew attention to). Including the miniscule there was 4 contributions to the debate (if you can call a ‘no amendments’ Laborial rubberstamp a debate??). The miniscule’s contribution was the typical weak wet lettuce response:

"The ayes have it!" - CAA (Board) amendment bill 19/03/14 - YouTube

However there was one worthy contribution from the (obviously well briefed) member for Tangney, Dr Dennis Jensen, which was well worth the time to review:

Fed Chamber 2nd read debate CAA (Board) amendment bill - 19/03/14 - YouTube

Hmm..onto the third reading... Then the introduction to the Senate....more to follow!

{Comment: Creamy have you got any suggested amendments to the bill that we can pass onto Senator X and the non-aligned Senators before the bill lobs into the Senate??}