The regulations are not a product of politics in the sense of competing world views. They are a product of BOTH SIDES of politics wishing to ignore/be insulated from aviation accident political costs.
THAT is the product CASA sells. THAT is why all pilots are "criminals who haven't been caught yet". There are precisely no votes in Aviation. Its rather like prison reform or regulation of feral animals.
The politicians pay CASA an insurance fee so that they don't have to pay attention to aviation. CASAs customer is the Government not us. We don't matter.
That is why I say that absent a political party or strike action, or a major accident the politicians are right in believing that noises from us can be safely ignored.
Skidmore? Nodding donkey, "safe pair of hands", "won't rock the boat", "One of us", "trusted", "steady".
Skidmore will labor mightily in the garden of the Lord and will, predictably, produce nothing of any import, because his Minister and Department Head chose him to do nothing more than keep aviation out of the headlines. I'm sure he is a nice guy and will try hard an d be granted a small change in the regulations to put his name to (perhaps tyre valve caps will no longer need to be yellow).
Real reform? No hope! As i have said before that would need a reformer backed by a minion or Two from Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as "advisors" (read bureaucratic assassins) to rip CASA apart and restructure it.
The sort of guys needed are, to paraphrase a description of Ohio Political operatives; "guys so smart and clever that you don't even realise they have cut your throat until half an hour after they have taken their leave".