Sadly I believe the strings are still being pulled by people higher up that see aviation as high risk, and seem not to understand that risk can be managed to acceptable levels in most of the cases we are talking about. There are at least two other Departments that have significant influence over CASA. I would be looking there.
This is not about safety, but about REGULATION.
One has to remember that you can be 100% conplient and not be 100% safe.
It is, or should be about risk management with appropriate safety cases behind every rule. Not a means of protecting CASA in court!