A clean MR is a red flag to Mr CASA.
As it should be.
It is extraordinarily unusual for an aircraft not to have suffered defects that have been rectified or carried through subsequent flights, in between each issue of an MR or approved equivalent.
A clean MR is almost invariably an indication that the operator and its pilots do not understand and are not complying with the defect recording rules.
It's surprising how many operators and pilots don't understand the circumstances in which it is perfectly legal to fly an aircraft with open defects on the MR or approved equivalent. But never fear: the new, plain English rules will fix all this, in 1998.