For those interested, CASA's response to Senator Fawcett's QON from the February Estimates hearings was released a few days ago:
Question no.: 170
Program: n/a
Division/Agency: Civil Aviation Safety Authority Topic: AAT Decision and Colour Vision Deficiency
Proof Hansard Page: 96 (24 February 2015)
PDF
Senator FAWCETT: Sure, I understand that. I will ask you to take this on notice as well. Since the committee last met with you in estimates, the AAT has handed down its decision in the case of Mr John O'Brien, with regard to colour vision deficiency. CASA lost that case. Mr O'Brien has been given the privileges of exercising the airline transport pilot licence on the basis that he has a safe flying history as a co-pilot and they do not anticipate any increase in risk to the travelling public or others with him exercising the privileges of being a captain. I would be interested in your answer, on notice, about how you plan to move forward with this issue, in that this is twice now that the AAT has found against the CASA position. The AAT's judgement recognises, during the very long period under Liddell and Brock and other principal medical officers within CASA, the very proactive and positive approach to enabling people to fly with appropriate individual assessments. I guess I would like you to, on notice, explain to the committee how you plan to respond to not just this judgement about Mr O'Brien as an individual but also the very clear statements that came out of the AAT around their concerns about the broad application of the CAD Test and the fact that, essentially, each individual should be given the opportunity to demonstrate their competence and safety, regardless of the clinical diagnosis of CVD that may be identified through various forms of testing.
Mr Skidmore: You quite correctly identified that we have only just received the response in regard to Mr O'Brien from the AAT. There is still time for us to appeal that response, and we will provide the information you requested in regard to that. But I would state that the AAT response was in regard to Mr O'Brien, and they did say it was in regard to Mr O'Brien only.
Answer:
CASA will be reviewing the implications of the individual judgement made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision in relation to Mr O’Brien for its wider assessment of applicants for pilot licences with colour vision deficiency (CVD).
CASA notes the need for consistency in the safety assessment of pilot licence applications while recognising the different individual circumstances of each applicant with CVD and its potentially variable impact on their operating performance.