Truss: Aviation Safety Regulation Review

[Sarcs]

TAAAF report card on Wuss & co.

From AA online:

Gov’t yet to meet half of its aviation commitments, Australian Aviation Associations’ Forum says

The federal government is yet to deliver on more than half of its aviation commitments and has shown a lack of commitment to the sector, the Australian Aviation Associations’ Forum (TAAAF) says.

In a statement released on Thursday, TAAAF expressed its concern that the government is yet to release its response to the Aviation Safety Regulatory Review (ASRR) and that three vacancies on the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) board are yet to be filled.

“In considering the government’s performance against their 12 key aviation election commitments, TAAAF scored the government as having delivered around 40 per cent of their commitments,” TAAAF said.

“A key issue noted was the lack of drive and commitment to act urgently on aviation – even judged by the government’s own promises.”

The TAAAF brings together the peak bodies of the aviation sector in Australia under one banner.

TAAAF called on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Industry and Regional Development Warren Truss to “respond urgently” to the ASRR, given the report written by former Airservices chairman David Forsyth was “seen as a blue-print for the reform of CASA to make it an effective, efficient, fair and trusted regulator”.

The ASRR, released in June, called for substantial cultural and structural changes at CASA and for better leadership of and coordination between Australia’s aviation safety agencies.

It found the relationship between CASA and the aviation industry was “in many cases, adversarial”.

TAAAF said the government should immediately establish a moratorium on all CASA regulatory development work until newly appointed director of aviation safety Mark Skidmore starts in his new role, the CASA board was appointed and there was a “clear response” to the Forsyth review.

“In particular, CASR Part 61 should immediately be suspended to prevent further damage to the industry and a joint industry/CASA taskforce appointed to apply the principles of sound regulatory development,” TAAAF said.

Part 61 was a set of new regulatory measures for pilots, operators and flightcrew licensing that has been strongly criticised from some sectors in the aviation industry.

“CASR Part 61 was seen as a serious problem and not acceptable to the industry in its current form,” TAAAF said.

“It was identified as a threat to the viability of some sectors and significant numbers of operators.

“Additionally there is clearly confusion within the regulator about the implementation of the rule-set and a lack of consistent interpretation and education.”

The federal government has promised a response to the ASRR before the end of 2014.

From Oz Flying online:

Aviation Forum calls for Government Action
19 Nov 2014



The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) has called on the Federal Government for more action to reform aviation.

In a statement released today, TAAAF said the government had under-performed when it came to keeping election promises.

"In considering the Government’s performance against their 12 key aviation election commitments, TAAAF scored the government as having delivered around 40% of their commitments," the statement said.

"A key issue noted was the lack of drive and commitment to act urgently on aviation – even judged by the Government’s own promises. In particular, the Forum expressed concern at the lack of a Government response to the Aviation Safety Regulation Review [Forsyth Report]. The Review was seen as a blueprint for the reform of CASA to make it an effective, efficient, fair and trusted regulator.

TAAAF called on Minister Warren Truss to respond to the Forsyth Report urgently, and to officially announce the three new CASA board members.

"The appointment of Jeff Boyd to the CASA Board was warmly welcomed but it is of ongoing concern that the CASA Board still has three vacancies, which is seen as holding back the reform of CASA," TAAAF said. "It also welcomed the appointment of a new CEO but clearly indicated that significant challenges lay ahead in the reform of CASA and in bringing about badly needed improvements as highlighted in the independent Forsyth Report."

Among other issues in the statement, the TAAAF also:

• Supported a return to three-tier regulation
• Rejected CASA's move toward the use of non-regulatory measures such as advisory material, policies and manuals
• Called for a moratorium on all CASA regulation work until the new Director Mark Skidmore is in effective control
• Called for CASR Part 61 to be suspended and a joint industry/CASA task force created to establish sound regulations
• Supported a ban on un-manned aerial vehicles (UAVs) being used over fire ground by members of the public.

TAAAF is a forum made up of peak aviation bodies the represent most aspects of aviation in Australia. More information on TAAAF can be found on the Regional Aviation Association website.

That will bring a huge sigh of relief to some of the IOS members as there were suspicions that certain factions of the TAAAF had sold out to the dark side...


On other matters it should not be forgotten that the AACCI AAT hearing is currently in progress, the outcome of which will be significant to all IOS members:

18th November 2014
The proceedings commenced by the Archerfield Chamber of Commerce Inc. to set aside the Ministerial Decision of former Transport Minister Anthony Albanese in May 2012 approving the Archerfield Airport 2011-2031 master plan will commence its hearing trial in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Brisbane today Tuesday 18th November until 26th November.

Witnesses for the Chamber will include a former Federal Minister of Aviation Mr Peter Morris and other aviation experts, some of whom are former Federal Government employees.

The Chamber will assert that the Department of Transport and Infrastructure and CASA did not assess the approved Master Plan with the required detail and technical accuracy demanded. In short the approval was granted without having regard to current applicable legislation, the interests of the aviation industry, the general public and the use of erroneous technical assessments.

The Department in recent years has suffered from an absence of specialised professionals in the aviation field with important decisions and recommendations to the responsible Minister being taken by uninformed bureaucrats who do not understand the industry or apply the law correctly.
Chief among these failings has been the extraordinary policy of the Department to absolutely refuse to apply the statutory requirements of the Airports Privatisation Act. They advise that all problems arising between the users of airports and the lease holders, where the leaseholders breach the Act, are commercial disputes and should be settled in the courts.
Instead of the Government applying its laws the onus is transferred to the general community to do so. The so called “Light Hands Policy” in relation to airports, a policy designed as a cover for bureaucratic executive action, has no legal backing at all and has never been raised in the Parliament.

The Department has been acting as an un-informed regulator and uniformed protector of the public interest. It has been acting only as a post office rather than doing its job to protect the airports and the users. The consequences are that general aviation industries are being destroyed and airports infrastructure including runways being downgraded or lost.

There is no or inadequate compensation to aviation businesses losing their assets through a system of refusals to renew aviation related leases of Commonwealth owned airport land upon which tenants paid for the buildings and improvements. Aviation land through the airport’s master plan will be converted to commercial and industrial sites without any control or supervision by State planning authorities.

The full resources of Governments of all political persuasions has been deployed to ensure the commercial profits of the airport lease holders are ensured, without regard as to the loss of vital national infrastructure or the interests of the community at large, and the viability of general aviation businesses that try to provide services in a competitive market environment.

The Act provides that airport lease holders must not alienate land that is required for present and future aviation needs. The Chamber’s application is to preserve our precious aviation infrastructure, stop new commercial and industrial development on land that is currently being used for runways and aviation businesses and to send a clear message to all Federal Airport Leasing Companies that only aviation related developments on taxpayer land in Australia will be permitted.


- END –

Proaviation - Albanese airport decision under AAT microscope

Good luck AACCI...

MTF on this important case...