Mr Dolan : I would totally agree that this is a matter of judgment. This is a matter of judgment, which under the Transport Safety Investigation Act is given to the ATSB as constituted by its three commissioners.
Senator XENOPHON: Given the matters that arose out of the Senate inquiry, the evidence that was given and that whole process and issues with respect to the MOU between CASA and the ATSB, for instance, and other matters about the downgrading of the nature of the report from critical to a minor safety incident, do you think in those circumstances it would be preferable for public confidence in the ATSB for there to have been an impartial arbiter or impartial advice sought from an expert to give advice to the ATSB in respect of that, rather than the commissioners basically just making a judgment call as to whether it ought to be amended or reopened based on your previous judgments? You can understand why there might be some concern about that.
Mr Dolan : I understand the concerns. All I can reiterate is that the responsibility for making those judgments by law rests with the ATSB and we will continue to exercise our responsibilities under the act.
Senator XENOPHON: I understand your responsibilities under the act, but do you consider it preferable in terms of the public confidence in the ATSB, given the highly critical nature of the Senate committee's report with respect to the Pel-Air incident and criticisms from others who gave evidence to the inquiry, that it would not be unreasonable for the ATSB to have sought an independent entity to provide advice before you considered whether there was something new and significant in the context of reopening any investigation into the Pel-Air incident?
Mr Dolan : The three commissioners determined that it was their responsibility to make that assessment and we did not see any need or possibility to defer that decision to someone else. What we did do, quite deliberately, was ask a counterpart organisation, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, to benchmark our investigation methodology against their investigation methodology and to review three of our investigations in light of that, essentially against what the TSB would have done as against what we did, and to give us an independent report on the results. It is entirely possible that as a result of that there will be new and significant information. If there is, the commission will reopen the investigation.
Senator XENOPHON: It goes beyond methodology, does it not, because looking at the methodology of the ATSB is a little different from the reality of how the ATSB may or may not have implemented that methodology.
Mr Dolan : Yes, the methodology and how it was applied.
Senator XENOPHON: So, it does go beyond the methodology?
Mr Dolan : Very much beyond the methodology and into how it was applied.
Mr Mrdak : I think going back to my earlier answer about the integrity of the process, the terms of reference that have been given to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the way in which they are looking at that and the advice to government from the ATSB on that process will underpin the government's response when that is tabled in terms of the very questions you are asking.
Senator XENOPHON: You would understand the disquiet in the aviation community that the ATSB was effectively Caesar judging Caesar. The commissioners had to make a determination as to whether they did a good job or not in terms of their previous report that was the subject of scathing criticism by a Senate inquiry. But you acknowledge that?
Mr Mrdak : I understand that and I have certainly closely reviewed the Senate inquiry report, but I think Mr Dolan has set out for you that seeking the advice from the Canadian authorities is the way in which the ATSB has sought to deal with a number of the issues raised in the Senate committee report.