On the basis of his appearance before the Committee last night, I continue to have no confidence that Mr Skidmore will produce any substantially different outcome than his precedessor. But then again, I always knew that the next Messiah would be like the previous.
I will post the relevant extracts from the Hansard, but I was left in no doubt that:
1. CASA is considering whether to appeal the AAT's decision in relation to John O'Brien.
2. CASA's position is that the AAT's decision is applicable only to John O'Brien.
So anyone who thinks that the departure of Dr Navanthe would result in CASA calling off its crusade, think again.
Candidates with CVD are just too easy a target for a regulator. Just imagine how much busy-work will be created by putting every candidate through what John O'Brien had to go through. It's like the regulatory reform program: no-risk, low-stress work for bureaucrats, indefinitely.
All in the name of "air safety" of course. CVD is, after all, such a big safety issue.
(Mr Skidmore's statements about the response to the Forsyth report were also instructive. I was reminded of Mr Byron's February 2005 statement about hoping to have a plan soon. Mr Skidmore's comments about Forsyth report findings about CASA's relationship with the industry were particularly interesting. For anyone who thinks the report is going to do anything other than gather dust: I have some cheap shares in the Brooklyn Bridge.)