Merged: Senate Inquiry

[Sarcs]

M&M/Beaker merely paying lipservice to ICAO/FAA.

These days whenever the muppet Beaker utters a single syllable in public the 'man at the back of the room' cringes and subconsciously a thought bubble appears with one single word - BOLLOCKS!

Example -

DPM Warren Truss/ATSB Martin Dolan - MH370 tender announcement 06/08/14 Part 1 - YouTube

And so it was with equal cynicism that most on here would have switched off to Beaker's whinge announcement in relation to the bureau's AR that..

“It was indeed sobering to see more than 200 years of combined corporate and investi­gation experience leaving the ATSB.’’

Regurgitated and lovingly PC'd here by SC - Air safety investigator warns of cuts to capacity

What is interesting is to see how an international MSM publication, with no associated domestic political interests, viewed the same story...



Love this headline...:Will the search for MH370 be called off due to Australian budget cuts? Ten investigators have already been scrapped from the mission by bean counters

• Australian Transport Safety Bureau has lost 12 percent of staff due to $2 million budget cuts
• Chief Commissioner says the agency has lost more than 200 years of combined experience in the same year as two Malaysian Airlines disasters
• ATSB has been tasked with leading the search for missing MH370 flight
• They also deployed two investigators to Ukraine following MH17 disaster

The lead agency behind the search for the missing MH370 flight has warned it will be forced to undertake fewer investigations after cutting 12 percent of its staff due to $2 million budget cuts.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's annual report detailed losing more than 200 years of combined corporate and investigative experience in the same year as the disappearance of MH370 and the shooting down of MH17.

Ten transport investigators are among those to go from the transport safety regulator after cutting its staff from 116 to 104 since July 2013.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau who are the lead agency in the search for MH370 warns investigations may be hampered due to budget cuts ATSB's Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan said investigating the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 was the 'greatest challenge' the bureau had faced to date.

'We have more than 12 per cent fewer staff and we have been required to task some of our investigation and administration staff to the major and ongoing investigations into the two Malaysia Airlines disasters,' Mr Dolan said.

'For the foreseeable future, we will be able to undertake fewer investigations and we will need to carefully consider and constrain the scope of investigations initiated.'

The Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 people on board, including six Australians.

The ATSB detailed losing more than 200 years of combined corporate and investigative experience in the same year as the disappearance of MH370 (pictured) and the shooting down of MH17.

While the safety body was given additional funding from the Federal Government for the extensive search, Mr Dolan said there would continue to be pressure on ATSB resources.

'(MH370) is the most serious aviation occurrence ever to involve the ATSB and its precursors, and is arguably the most mystifying, expansive and difficult search operation ever undertaken in the history of commercial aircraft,' Mr Dolan said.

'At the same time as we were required to undertake difficult decisions in relation to our staffing and resources, we received the news of the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and of its possible location in the Southern Indian Ocean, in Australia’s Search and Rescue Zone.

'The decision to reduce our staff numbers was particularly difficult as it was made in the knowledge that there is no contingent workforce of highly skilled transport safety investigators available in the marketplace to be deployed at short notice in the event of a new crisis.

'It was indeed sobering to see more than 200 years of combined corporate and investigation experience leaving the ATSB.'

The ATSB also deployed two investigators to the Ukraine in July after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a missile with a number of Australians on-board.

Certainly a very much different spin and mainly focussed on the possible implications for the ongoing search for MH370. I also now wonder if Beaker may have diverged from the government (M&M) briefed script/spin when he said...

'For the foreseeable future, we will be able to undertake fewer investigations and we will need to carefully consider and constrain the scope of investigations initiated.'

This innocuous, throw away, line would appear to be quite damning when you consider the findings & recommendations from two previous ICAO/FAA audits...:2004 -

RECOMMENDATION:

The ATSB should endeavour to establish its budget based on its actual requirements to meet its international

obligations under Annex 13 and its national obligations under the TSI Act 2003.

CORRECTIVE ACTION PROPOSED BY THE ATSB:
The ATSB has incorporated detailed workforce planning for its staff requirements in its 2004-05 business plan.
The plan also provides for revision of workforce planning, recruitment and organizational structures to take
account of revised funding and pending retirements. Funding for aviation investigation is provided by the
Federal Government through the Department of Transport and Regional Services and was increased by about
A$2 million from 2004-05. The new funding level will enable the ATSB to increase the annual number of new
aviation accident and incident investigations commenced from about 60 to up to 100. This is approximately half
the average number of accidents and serious incidents reported to the ATSB each year. All accidents and serious
incidents involving international airlines are investigated as are all fatal accidents that do not involve sport
aviation aircraft.
The ATSB will, before the end of August 2004, advise the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport
and Regional Services, the Departmental Secretary and the Department of Finance and Administration of the
ICAO audit recommendation that budget funding for the ATSB should be based on a demand-driven approach
based on the number of accidents and serious incidents each year and their severity, complexity and safety
significance to enable the ATSB to investigate them all. However, the ATSB is not aware of many, if any,
ICAO states that do not face a budget constraint that impacts the number and extent of accident and serious
incident investigations.

2008 -


While trolling through the internet to see if I could find where the outstanding issues identified by the FAA ended up I came across a fascinating document - that was published on M&M's website - that outlined a Tripartite (MoU) agreement between the Department, ASA & CAsA labelled - ARRANGEMENTS FOR AUSTRALIA'S PARTICIPATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL
AVIATION ORGANIZATION

Still reading through this document but a couple of strange coincidences and anomalies have already perked my interest...

First was the day of signing of this agreement which just so happened to have been the day after the 1st hearing held into the PelAir cover-up Senate inquiry...

Also it would appear that M&M has ultimate responsibility for the administering of Annex 13..

13 Aircraft Accident Investigation Infrastructure

...and therefore M&M not only signs off on the notified differences to Annex 13 (relevant section see here page 74 Chapter 5) but also administers all follow up actions in audits of the ATsB...:

7. Audits

7.1 The three agencies recognise that ICAO regularly conducts audits of
Australia's safety and security systems. Australia will fulfill its
obligations in accordance with Attachment B of this MOU.
7.2 An interagency USOAP CMA Working Group, chaired by Infrastructure
will meet quarterly or as required to review actions in relation to
Australia's USOAP CMA obligations in accordance with the USOAP
CMAMOU.
7.3 The Office of Transport Security will be responsible for handling all

transport security related audits and obligations in accordance with the
USAP MOU. Working arrangements for agencies involved in the audit
of safety related Annexes are detailed as follows:
a) Following an onsite USOAP CMA activity by ICAO an
interagency USOAP CMA Working Group, chaired by
Infrastructure, will meet to review actions in relation to
Australia's Findings and Recommendations as a result of the
onsite activity and to coordinate and monitor the corrective
actions resulting from the onsite activity and the implementation
plan. The group will comprise of members from Infrastructure,
CASA, Airservices Australia, the Australian Transport Safety
Bureau (A TSB), Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and the
Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
Responsibilities of the Working Group will include:
1) Overseeing implementation of Australia's Corrective Action Plan
(CAP),
2) Ensuring Australia's completion of information required under
the CMA online in accordance with Attachment B of this MOU;
3) Providing updates, at least every 6 months, to AIG (refer to
paragraph 6.3) including implementation of the Corrective Action
Plan; and
4) Updating the DGCA Directory.

Still trolling and I reckon there are many more dots to join in this tale...

Love to be able to track the changes to that Tripartite MoU but my bet is Doc Hoodoo Voodoo has probably put a curse on it...

MTF...