LL - If you are willing to accept Mrdak then you also have to accept Beaker.
"If in this Case there be no other (as the Proverb is) then -
Hobson's - choice ... which is, chuse whether you will have this or none."
Lefty – "willing and accepting" imply a choice; and mate, like Hobson's, we have little to none. No options and fewer choices, we are stuck with it. The only glimmer of hope for meaningful change comes from the Forsyth report. The really clever folk, like Boyd, Cannane, Fawcett, Hurst, Xenophon et al, read between the WLR lines 'properly'; it recommends changes which imply the top three layers of CASA management must go, the board be changed and the MM department lift it's game.
As much as I'd love to see all that happen, I know it's politically and practically impossible. We can only work with the tools we've got. I do feel time will take care of Mrdak, there are some difficult questions for him to answer on many subjects. Pragmatically though, his performances during estimates questioning define a master of the game and so long as he has the reigns any small changes will be hard won; especially with only limp wrist support from a minuscule who is not oriented toward matters aeronautical.
That only leaves hope the 'new' board can influence real reform; but the facts so far reveal that Hawke is staying put and that the other 'new' board members will be selected from rejected DAS applicants. Which leaves us Jeff Boyd, David Fawcett and Nick Xenophon to drive the changes; of those, only Boyd is a known reformer with a board seat.
So old son, it's not a matter of being willing to accept – but taking the best we can from a long way behind. I personally think the industry has become so used to the 'way we are' they have forgotten the 'way we were' and that's a very long road to return along.
I would fire Beaker from a cannon, in a heart beat with malice, tar and feathers, the works. I would without a seconds hesitation publicly decimate the three top layers of CASA management. But if the MM leopard could see the benefits of changing it's spots, I'd think long and hard before I pulled the trigger. On balance, I'd probably pull that trigger too; just for the airports mischief; but only from a distance and not without serious misgivings.
Time for second coffee, reality fix required...
Toot toot...