LB. I am aware of the regs, however on the rare occasions I can get an Airservices Australia rep to actually talk to me, they often respond with throw-away lines like "ah its in the regs somewhere - you're a pilot YOU need to look it up!" My purpose is to ensure that what we are talking about, is also qualified with regard to the actual reg(s) and to also confirm that they do know what they are talking about too. In the DCA days, even the administrative staff had at least PPLs and other aviation qualifications. Aside of that, with all the debate about "aviation systems safety management," given that we are paying for the hard copy documents anyway, I fail to see why cost is a problem. If I need a reference, I need it quickly in today's flying environment, not spend some time looking through poorly constructed ambiguous texts soaked in legal language with the increasing threat of "strict liability." I operate in remote sectors where total local power supply failures are common, hence the need to keep hard copy documentation readily available for the "what if." The merger you mentioned is long overdue, but should include the Department of Transport and Regional Development as well as CASA and Airservices Australia and even the ATSB. Given that general aviation and the regional hubs associated with it appear to be gradually closing down, a Department called ..."Regional Development," is sad. Plus they are responsible for aviation security, yet CASA issues ASICs! The ATSB appears to be lacking serious expertise at the moment with Executives that have never flown professionally and people who join ATSB with aviation expertise, but then assigned to railway incidents! Even under one Minister, the ATSB can be kept independent with regard to ensuring the bona-fides of their role. The whole business needs a jolly good shake-up.