CASA Chief Executive

[Sarcs]

Back to the future...is there a difference??

Hope you don't mind "K" borrowed this...

I never minded Mick Toller too much, sure he was hard headed and the title Ayatollah was used more in jest than in anger, he was at least fair minded and sane. I doubt he, like Byron would have allowed the current AF mess to develop. As he says in the Angel flight debate – it's a bollocks. The whole thing has been generated by a department desperately seeking a way to reassert their relevance to aviation by picking on yet another soft target. You have admire their determination to bully and subjugate the minority groups as an example to the larger, Tiger, CVD, Angel flight etc. Disgusting creatures.

There is a constant in all of the last three FF DAS/CEOs i.e. they all wanted to continue in the job, unfinished business & all that...

Example:

Mick Toller speaks on CASA's safety systems approach, his own future
Compere: ...But Qantas received warning about this last November from the manufacturer, from Boeing, that this part might indeed be susceptible to falling off. Are you satisfied that it acted diligently?

Mick Toller: I think it's too early to be able to say that. We are aware of the fact that Rolls has informed the operators of the aircraft that this is a problem. We understand, from Qantas, that they were aware of it. And obviously there will be an investigation. That investigation initially will be taken by the Transport Safety Bureau, which is quite correct.

Compere: All right. Now, through these last couple of months, of course, CASA's received a lot of criticism through it all. Former employees speaking out. The ALP basically calling for your head. We've had that damning internal report that was leaked. CASA seems to be under extreme pressure. Is the organisation suffering serious problems?

Mick Toller: Well, we're certainly under a big spotlight at the moment. You could almost say we're under a microscope, because people are looking at us minutely. No, I don't believe we are. I believe we were. And I think that we've got a bit of a time warp here. When we look at the report that came out this week on the Qantas 1 accident in Bangkok, that report is specifically saying that the problems that we knew existed, or that we recognised existed, are being addressed. Are being addressed correctly. And it strongly comes out in favour of our new systems. The new way we're doing things. And is a strong endorsement of that.

Compere: Well, that incident, obviously, September 1999. We've had the Ansett - the history there that was going back 18 months. The problems with their 767s, which you failed to detect. Changes you say have taken place in the last two years, just didn't manage to pick those problems up.

Mick Toller: Well, the changes that we are starting were after the Qantas 1 accident, so I don't think that we can even reflect on that. We'll be looking into the Ansett issues to see what we should have found out and when we should have found it out. But there was no doubt in anybody's mind, who has a real knowledge of what's going on, that the changes that CASA has made are the right changes. They're not complete yet, because these changes take time. There has been some resistance to it, and you see that resistance particularly in comments from ex-staff members like Mr Wood, who resisted it at the time. But there's always resistance to change. That change is a necessary change, and it's a good change. And the ATSB have made that point very strongly.

Compere: Okay. Through all of this, obviously you yourself have come under enormous pressure. Your contract's obviously up in July. Will you survive? Will you be reappointed?

Mick Toller: Well, that's a decision that the Cabinet will be making. The Board has recommended that I be reappointed. At the end of the day, I'm willing to serve the public to the best that I can. If I am reappointed. And if I'm not, I'm sure that somebody else will do their best to do this very difficult job.

Compere: You're obviously gunning for that position. You want to take it?

Mick Toller: I believe that the changes that we're in the middle of at the moment are important. I think that CASA had a difficult history, and it really needs stability at this stage. And stability at the top.

Compere: The last time CASA came under this sort of spotlight was when Dick Smith was at the Chair. And he, of course, resigned after all of the controversies he endured. Not something you're considering?

Mick Toller: I'm not considering resigning at this stage, no. I think that
there is always a time to go that's in the best interests of any organisation. I don't believe that, from my point of view, now is the right time for me to be leaving CASA. However, as I say, it's not my decision; it's the government's decision.

Compere: All right. Mick Toller, thanks for being with us this morning on Sunrise.

Mick Toller: A pleasure.

Media contact
Peter Gibson
ph 02 6217 1015
mobile [phone]

However in all three cases those aspirations did not come to fruition... But there is a difference between the 1st two resignations and the recent one. In the MT & BB case (perhaps highlighted by the "K" quote) there was debate in industry on the pros/cons of each gentleman's legacy.

Example for BB; pprune thread November 2008 - The Bruce Byron Legacy

However in JMac's case besides the tick of approval from some past/present members of the bored; probably M&M and his cronies; and most surprisingly the Iron Ring; there was overwhelming condemnation from the IOS (269 ASRR submissions & follow ups), some pro-aviation Senators and the 37 recommendations from the Forsyth Report that simply made his future aspirations totally untenable...

As mentioned by Soty, throughout the reign of these 3 DAS/CEOs and before, there has been a couple of constants i.e. the Doc, Tezza, PG & M&M. But for mine it is indeed the Doc who has been quietly maintaining the status quo of the Iron Ring's agenda.

In the case of MT's demise, once the IR decided he had to go (i.e. passed his use by date), the Doc quietly went about undermining MT in a classic example of character assassination through rumour, innuendo and leaked documents...

(from interview above) - "We've had that damning internal report that was leaked..."

The damn internal report was about a non-event that had happened some two years before when MT had been on a goodwill mission to the Torres Strait.

From Aunty (PM) May 2001:

CASA accused of going soft on boss

PRINT FRIENDLYEMAIL STORYPM Archive - Wednesday, 30 May , 2001 00:00:00

Reporter:

COMPERE: Well, Australia's Aviation regulator hit some more turbulence of its own today.

A Senate committee has heard that the head of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Mick Toller, avoided prosecution over a breach of aviation rules despite a recommendation from within his own organisation to call in the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Mr Toller stands accused of taking the controls of an aircraft he wasn't endorsed to fly, although the incident wasn't reported until a year after it occurred.

The Opposition today called on the Transport Minister, John Anderson, to explain why CASA went soft on the boss.

Shane McLeod in Canberra.

SHANE MCLEOD: Right from the Senate committee's first question the director of aviation safety, Mick Toller, was in the firing line.

UNIDENTIFIED: Mr Toller, what's happening with your reappointment?

MICK TOLLER: I don't know, Senator.

UNIDENTIFIED: I'm sure he meant 'good morning'.

MICK TOLLER: I'm sure.

UNIDENTIFIED: Good morning Senator, Mick Toller, director of aviation safety. Senator, I don't know. Can I take that one on notice?

SHANE MCLEOD: The CASA board next meets in June and it appears the question of Mr Toller's reappointment is still up in the air. Today's Senate committee hearings might provide more fodder for those opposed to him staying on. Mr Toller's record as a private pilot was the focus of Tasmanian Labor's Senator, Kerry O'Brien.

KERRY O'BRIEN: He did say the board took the matter very seriously and that in relation to the Horn Island matter there was bound to be a technical breach but it was determined that it was not a matter that should be referred outside CASA.

SHANE MCLEOD: Mr Toller is a former 747 pilot and is licensed to fly a number of light planes. He wasn't accredited to fly the Cessna Caravan 208 he took the controls of at Horn Island in the Torres Strait about two years ago. The incident wasn't reported until more than 12 months after it happened, and then to CASA's safety telephone hotline.

The authority's board, through chairman Paul Scully-Power, commissioned the acting assistant director of aviation safety compliance, Terry Farquharson, to investigate.

PAUL SCULLY POWER: In doing so I, as it was an incident that had occurred in the North Queensland area, I tasked Mr Ivory to conduct the investigation and requested from Mr Boys the assistance of a Part III investigator to ensure that evidence was collected and statements were taken in the appropriate manner.

SHANE MCLEOD: Peter Boys is the manager of investigation and enforcement with CASA. He was asked by Mr Farquharson for his views on the investigation report but disagreed on the findings, arguing that the matter should be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

PETER BOYS: For the fact of scrutiny, consistency in accordance with the procedures that have been in place, the matter should be considered for referral to the DPP.

SHANE MCLEOD: And later...

TERRY FARQUHARSON: Is there any doubt in your mind that this matter should have gone to the DPP?

PETER BOYS: In my mind, no.

SHANE MCLEOD: Terry Farquharson disagreed with the advice of Mr Boys and referred it to CASA's Corporate Council for an opinion. He, in turn, sought external legal advice while other advice was also sought by the board. They agreed that there had been a technical breach but that prosecution was not warranted as Mr Farquharson told the committee.

TERRY FARQUHARSON: The matter, according to those individuals, failed to meet the tests of the DPP requirements of the Commonwealth Prosecution tests and should have been dealt with internally.

SHANE MCLEOD: Terry Farquharson admitted that his being commissioned by direct letter from the board was not the usual way in which investigations were launched.

TERRY FARQUHARSON: Again, this is quite a different pathway.

UNIDENTIFIED: Correct.

SHANE MCLEOD: And it's that special process that the Opposition has today seized upon. Shadow Transport Minister Martin Ferguson is calling on John Anderson to explain the special treatment allowed to Mr Toller.

MARTIN FERGUSON: The evidence suggests that CASA sought three separate legal opinions as to Mr Toller's alleged breaches rather than let the normal compliance and enforcement procedures run their course. Evidently there is one rule for Mr Anderson, the Minister for Transport's mate Mr Toller, and another rule for Joe Blow and the aviation public.

SHANE MCLEOD: But John Anderson is rejecting the Opposition's attack.

JOHN ANDERSON: No, I think those are predictable remarks and I'll have a close look at what was said but I don't think there's anything new that I can identify from what I've been told about it to this point in time.

COMPERE: John Anderson is the Federal Transport Minister.

COMPERE: Well tonight Mr Anderson and his office released details of some of the legal advice provided to CASA relating to Mick Toller's alleged regulatory breaches.

The former head of the National Crime Authority, Tom Sherman, told CASA there was no need to refer the matter to the DPP because Mr Toller had been formally counselled and the incident was of a relatively minor nature.

The report also found that Mr Toller had been subjected to special and unfavourable treatment in that the allegations against him had been investigated no less than twice.

And here is a link to the Hansard (page 19) from Senate Estimates to which the PM program quotes: 30 May 2001 (PDF format) -Transport and Regional Services
{Note: You will see from Hansard that back then Tezza had a lot more to say, you will also notice that Beaker features as some underling to the Airport's Division}

The point of the above look at ancient history, is to highlight the major roadblock to reform that the IOS is up against. The Iron Ring, ably led by the Doc and supported by the LSD, is so imbedded into the fabric of Fort Fumble that it will take a mammoth effort to shift. Unless you clean out the lot eventually it will reappear reincarnated somewhere else and continue to erode away at the next generation of DAS & FF senior/middle management. That is why the IR is currently fighting tooth & nail to seriously undermine the DAS selection process and protect the sanctity of the trough... God help us if they succeed...

MTF...