Voice for Aviation or Cuckoo in the Nest.

[LeadSled]

Folks,
As some of you will be aware, the new Minister for Infrastructure and Transport has a new Aviation Adviser.

He is Steven Campbell, who has a most interesting CV (according to Linked In) starting as a GA instructor, CFI at Tyabb, moving up a traditional path into Regionals, and then cracking it with Cathay, where it looks like he finished up on B777 as a Training Captain.

Then --- maybe --- it all changes, joining CASA and eventually becoming Project Manager for Part 61/141/142. The greatest disaster in the history of aviation regulation in Australia.

Any body know if he has quit CASA, or is he on secondment/leave of absence to go to the Minister's office.

Is he going to be a voice for industry, and what must be done, including fair dinkum action on the Forsyth Report ??

Or is he a very cunning CASA plant, to sell the CASA line that everything is really hunky dory in Australian aviation, it's just a matter of industry malcontents getting too much publicity, Senators who are an irritant, and the NZ rules won't work, because they "don't meet Commonwealth legislative drafting protocols" ( like much other Commonwealth legislation that comes from O/S, that has been "incorporated by reference" in Australian legislation).

And Parts 61/141/142 are really groundbreaking pieces of legislation that other NAA are panting to copy --- according to the CASA "official" line.

Tootle pip!!

[Frank Arouet]

How convenient. A "Cathay Club" Member right in the Ministers electorate.


Not a "plant' more likely a "sleeper".

[tail wheel]

https://au.linkedin.com/in/steven-campbell-7a534a74

[Sunfish]

No hope for GA there.

[Aussie Bob]

Your wrong Sunny, if this guy was a project manager for part 61, it is significantly worse than "no hope for GA".

I despair for the industry or what is left of it.

[Aussie Bob]

Get your facts straight guys, Steve was a manager on the Task force to fix up the Part 61, 141 and 142 messThank you for clarifying Duckie! I most certainly wish him well then. May I suggest he starts by chucking all parts in the bin? I must confess I only gave his profile a cursory glance and misunderstood the being on the task force bit.

[Frank Arouet]

Just how many chances do these guys get to make it right? How many bloody years to go?


I'm sick of patch up jobs and want a refund of my outlays for a product not fit for purpose.


Another left hand nut in the right handed thread workshop.


No more benefit of the doubt or wait and see how he goes. Pull the bloody plug and start again.

[Lead Balloon]

Forget the history ...No. That would, in my view, be mistake.

No one should forget the history. :=

The people who forget the history of the regulatory reform program are "moving forward" to another twenty or so years of people on 6 figure salaries turning a complete bugger's muddle into an enormous bugger's muddle.

No thanks. The latest talking head and his smooth staffers can go and get stuffed.

[Frank Arouet]

Ducky;


“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (George Santayana).


The whole mob need a purge, not new blood to maintain the status quo. I'm sick to death of providing input to people who keep asking for input but indolently ignore it. I'm sick to death of people telling me to get over it and I have a very personal distaste for the phrase "slagging off" which reminds me of the worst moments in the history of AOPA.


But you wouldn't, or probably couldn't, be bothered to know, ... Pity.

[Lead Balloon]

Those who remember the history will accurately predict what the latest talking head is likely to do: Emulate the fine example of his predecessors of the last couple of decades, and simply abdicate his and his department's responsibilities to CASA, while carrying on the important work of being a bloated leach on the body politic. That, after all, is the point of getting into government.

Those who remember the history will remember what difference successive ministers have made to aviation regulation in the last couple of decades.

Enjoy the new job, Duck.

[Lead Balloon]

I retired many years ago.

But I still get a say, and I still get to hang on to whatever I like.

Whether you like it or not. :=

[Horatio Leafblower]

Darren Chester is a first-time minister and I fear he may be a party man.

On the other hand, my contacts who (after an exhaustive 20-second LinkedIn search) claim to know Steven, all say he is a good bloke.

I have more faith in the Advisor than the minister in this case. Let us hope. :ok:

[aroa]

hey Leafy...do you reckon these 2 new kids on the block GET IT...and will have CAsA change direction, adopt NZ regs and save GA. ??

NO? thort not. I reckon I'll just make another rollie :ok::eek:

[Horatio Leafblower]

No presumtory claims of New Brooms I am afraid Aroa :(

[Lead Balloon]

All of Duck Pilot's posts have disappeared. How odd. :confused:

But I say again: Enjoy the new job, Duck. :ok:

[Frank Arouet]

It's being suggested on other sites that this appointment is Barnabys way to keep him further away from the CAsA fire. Something he probably deduced was a major problem for Truss. I doubt it will work as he "buck" as opposed to the "duck" always stops somewhere, usually at the top.

[LeadSled]

Darren Chester is a first-time minister and I fear he may be a party man.

On the other hand, my contacts who (after an exhaustive 20-second LinkedIn search) claim to know Steven, all say he is a good bloke.

I have more faith in the Advisor than the minister in this case. Let us hope. :ok:

Folks,
The new Minister has been referred to as "do nothing Darren", as well as "Gippsland's George Clooney", how does this bode for aviation, or what little is left of it??
Tootle pip!!

[Gen. Anaesthetic]

I've worked with Steven in the past while he was with CASA and I was working in a management role in a regional airline. Happy to say say that he is a very pleasant guy to deal with. He was basically given a s--t sandwich and told to turn it into a masterpiece so my sympathies were with him for the Part 61/141/142 stuff. He had next to no one helping on such a mammoth task. That was/is the nub of the issue.

I can't judge the quality of his work as I didn't hang around long enough but he comes across as a very reasonable and approachable guy. He has the interests of the industry at heart, although in a political environment I guess anything can happen!

[gerry111]

"He has the interests of the industry at heart, although in a political environment I guess anything can happen!"


And therein lies the nub.

[LeadSled]

Any body know if he has quit CASA, or is he on secondment/leave of absence to go to the Minister's office?

Folks,
Is anybody able to answer this question, it has quite a bearing on possible outcomes.
Tootle pip!!

PS: Thanks to whoever corrected the typo in the title.

[Capn Bloggs]

Is anybody able to answer this question, it has quite a bearing on possible outcomes.

Ask him yourself, or are you too afraid to? :hmm:

[Sunfish]

If you go near a Ministerial advisor for any reason, and the public servants and CASA and the Department find out, they will have your balls for breakfast.

[Vag277]

If you go near a Ministerial advisor for any reason, and the public servants and CASA and the Department find out, they will have your balls for breakfast.

Sunfish! Where on earth did you get this ridiculous idea?

[thorn bird]

Vag,
I note your location is in Cant'berra is that significant in relation to your post?

[Sunfish]

Vag, the entire world competes for the Ministers ear. The Ministers adviser has it. Public servants jealously guard access to the Minister and usually fight with the adviser as well.

You can see a humorous take on this subject in the constant sparring between Sir humphrey and Mr Wiesel ("Mr weasel") in "Yes Minister". However it is much more serious than that, witness the knives that are out for Peta Credlin.

If you want to kill your pet project stone dead in seconds, try going behind the public services back and get an interview with the Ministers advisor and/or the Minister. Been there and done that when I was very young. Our redevelopment project was held up a further five years as a direct result of our impertinence.