Folks,
There was nothing really wrong with the Australian Law Reform Commission report recommendations that gave us a clear statement of the proof condition for each criminal offense in the aviation regulations.
However, by definition, any matter where there is an element of judgement involved cannot be a matter of strict liability, where the only defense is "honest and reasonable mistake", a very high test, effectively what you did had to be caused by something/somebody else, a VCA because you misread the map is not an "honest and reasonable mistake". In the aviation law there are many examples where this is ignored.
In the FTDK case, that would probably have swung on who made the arithmetic error. That an "honest" arithmetic error can create such a major criminal penalty gives a whole new meaning to "over the top".
Of course, for absolute liability, there is no defense.
I could, but I won't (can't afford the defo.) outline just how we got to the present situation by serious and deliberate misapplication of government policy, but suffice to say, it was NOT the ex-military element in CASA.
You can blame them for lots of things in CASA and its predecessors, but not this.
CASA transgresses just about every recommendation by just about every government or parliamentary body, in the way it has gone about formulating regulations and penalties since about 1999, and then blandly tells us is it government policy.
If people really understood the ramification on international travel restrictions of having even been charged (generally, USA for one, you don't even have to be convicted) under aviation war, there would rightly be a civil was, but it is just a few individuals each year find, to their very great embarrassment, who find themselves denied entry to the US, when they were taking the family to Disneyland.
The CASA definition of "just culture" does not, unsurprisingly, look much like the ICAO version, any more than Australian SMS looks anything like the ICAO/FAA/EASA activity by the same name.
The effect, deteriorating air safety outcomes, is clear in the records.
Tootle pip!!