General aviation industry calls on the Prime Minister to reform aviation regulations

[aviationadvertiser]

Monday, 20th June 2016


The Hon Malcolm Turnbull
Prime Minister and
Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia
PO Box 6004
Kingston ACT 2604 Australia
[email protected]

The 94,000+ Users of the Aviation Advertiser Network and
the various national and state media representatives attached.

Australia’s general aviation industry calls on the
Liberal Party of Australia to reform aviation regulations.


Mr Malcolm Turnbull,

My name is Benjamin Morgan and I am the Chief Executive of the Aviation Advertiser (www.aviationadvertier.com.au) an aircraft sales and marketing service based in Australia. Our services are used by over 94,000 users across Australia, comprising of pilots, aircraft owners, aviation business proprietors, aviation enthusiasts and supporters. I am also a Director of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association which represents approximately 3,000 members in Australia.

On the 6th of May 2016, I organised an aviation rally at Tamworth Regional Airport. The purpose of the rally was to highlight to the Liberal/National coalition the desperate state of our industry, calling on the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Barnaby Joyce and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Mr Darren Chester, to take action.

As an Australian and as an aviation business owner I have become disillusioned (as have thousands of others in our industry) by the quagmire of unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation that is suffocating our general aviation industry - sending it bankrupt. Worse still, I have become disillusioned by the lack of any serious political leadership by the Liberal Party of Australia on the issues which are affecting us so greatly.

This position was highlighted by the inability of Mr Joyce or Mr Chester to provide any meaningful position or perspectives to the attendees of the aviation rally. They both simply resigned themselves to public statements of having no idea about aviation and deferred the industry to deal with bureaucrats, whom have no motivation to see broad change occur.

Our industry is governed by a department and a regulator which are vastly disconnected to the realities and the challenges that face the hard working men and women in aviation across this country. They have made entering and setting up aviation businesses cost prohibitive and have devalued investment within our industry, guiding the general aviation industry into serious and perilous decline.

Our industry requires a strong and clear political intervention to end this bureaucratic nightmare.

Unless a diverse and broad platform of regulatory reform is undertaken by the government, the general aviation industry across Australia will continue to decline and will collapse into bankruptcy.

I am calling on you Mr Turnbull as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia to stand by the men and women of general aviation and to save our industry from the bureaucrats and show strong political leadership on this issue.

If you honestly believe that this is the greatest time to be an Australian, then stand with us and transform our industry into an economic powerhouse by broadly reforming our antiquated and dysfunctional regulatory framework. Our industry's leadership are unified and are at the ready to help you and the Liberal Party of Australia define the necessary policies to help rescue and empower our industry for growth and prosperity.

Core values our industry stands by:

- Only regulate when necessary and do so proportionately
- Deregulate everywhere we can and reduce cost to industry
- Help create a vibrant and dynamic general aviation industry

With the election now weeks away, there is time to hold a constructive meeting, whereby the Liberal Party of Australia can provide a powerful public policy position for our industry to provide its broad support for this election.

Mr Turnbull, if you could please provide a time to meet, I and the industry leadership shall be happy to travel to meet you, wherever best suits you.

I and our industry eagerly await your response.

Yours sincerely,


BENJAMIN MORGAN
Chief Executive - Aviation Advertiser Digital Group

Telephone: (02) 8215 6292
Mobile: 0415 577 724
Email: [email protected]

Mailing Address:
PO BOX 465
Edgecliff NSW 2027
Australia.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

WELL DONE Benjamin, and I do thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the effort you have singlehandedly put in.

I sense that there is not much 'other ' support from the industry' leaders.

I find your letter very well written and to the point.

I can only hope that it has the desired effect.

For myself, I cannot convince my local Liberal member candidate - he appears to not want to listen.
Therefore I will not be voting for him.

My problem is, just 'who' do I vote for to progress our case?

I just do not know any more.....

Good Luck, and yes, I will still keep trying - we have 12 days to go......

Regards,
Griffo.

[Ex FSO GRIFFO]

Copy of my letter to Matt O'Sullivan, Liberal candidate for the new seat of Burt, WA.

Dear Mr O'Sullivan,

I am forwarding the enclosed letter to the leader of your Party, It is self-explanatory in its own way.
(Letter, post #1, was enclosed)

Our General Aviation Industry is ‘in trouble’.
Most of this ‘trouble’ is caused by CASA, the so called ‘Regulatory Authority’.
It is they who impose rules over our ‘commercial activities’ which have nothing at all to do with SAFETY.

General Aviation comprises all of aviation in Australia except for Airlines and the Military.
We are usually found at the ‘Secondary Airports’ of Capital cities and across Rural Australia.
Our Industrial activities range from ‘Cropdusting’ in the Wheatbelt, to flying instruction and aero clubs in WA and across Australia generally, and of course, aircraft charter, which is often based at Primary Captial City Airports.

ALL Flying Training is classed as ‘General Aviation’ and this is where our future airline pilots are ‘born’.
Think ‘Jandakot’.....where industries generating millions of dollars are situated.
These industries include engineering and maintenance facilities, as well as the various aero clubs and flying training facilities.

Can you please help our industry to survive?

It is noted that our ‘cousins’ in New Zealand have a ‘vibrant’ General Aviation’ industry, whilst ours is ‘dying on the vine’, so to speak.

Please feel free to contact me direct if you wish – prior to the Elections, and I will pass on your interest or otherwise.

Regards,
(me)
Constituent of Burt

[LimaMikeSiera]

Hey Ben, wow, it is great to see you active and back with us. We sent an email to our local Federal MP this morning - Melissa Price, and I promise you that this is not the first. To Melissa's credit, she did sit down with us in Derby, some 2 odd years ago as a total rookie, regarding our concerns after the CASA v Caper case (Direct Air) and the lack of any evidence of Part 135 ever being rolled out but, we have had absolutely no positive follow up from Melissa regarding that, or subsequent correspondence. The email:

The following statement was in the Newspaper yesterday. Gina has it so right. This is what GA in Australia is coming up against too.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart says Australian politicians don't "have the guts" to tackle government spending.
Ms Rinehart said the cost of government was growing rapidly and this issue has been overlooked in the election campaign.
"There is one giant cost slab that isn't decreasing: government," Ms Rinehart told the Saturday Telegraph.
Ms Rinehart also took aim at the level of government red tape which needs to be overcome for developments.
She says her $10 billion iron ore project at Roy Hill has been slowed down by the around 400 government approvals needed.
"India has the guts to do what it's doing to cut at least federal red tape, with the consequent immense benefits to its people, driving investment, jobs, economic growth and living standards - why can't Australia?" she said.
WE AREN’T LOOKING FOR FUNDING OF ANY KIND!!! All we need is the Bureaucratic overkill taken away so we can operate a safe, small business.
We are a small operation. We can’t afford to employ 2 more staff to cater to the paperwork that CASA is thrusting upon us at every turn. The extra cost of complying with their demands is out of control.
The most recent changes are:

1. Pilots will not be allowed to camp out overnight while on a job under the new fatigue management guidelines. We have held a contract with DPaW for 8 years doing aerial ignition, primarily in the Kimberley but across all of WA, and as you can image there aren’t a lot of air-conditioned rooms at Silent Grove Camp Ground, Mitchell Plateau, or Illkurlka. Our Pilots absolutely love the work and very seriously compete for these jobs; it is a paid holiday. There is no risk of them becoming fatigued because their accommodation isn’t “climate controlled”. CASA Bureaucrats that work in a high rise office in Canberra have no idea what happens in the real world because they want nothing less than 4-star accommodation. Get them to back off – that’s all we are asking.

2. In the future only 9 passenger seats can be available on GA Aircraft. This won’t affect us, but the Operators of Caravans, and similar sized aircraft, that can currently carry up to 14 passengers will no longer be able to run a viable operation. This includes the Seaplanes that fly out of Broome and Derby during the tourism season. The reason for limiting the passenger numbers is unknown to all but the Bureaucrats.

3. In 2013 we told you about being unable to sell individual seats on a scenic flight because that is considered, by CASA, to be an RPT operation and we are all ignoring this rule and flying illegally when conducting most scenic flights. If Mary and Fred call and book 2 seats on a scenic flight and then Harry and Hilda do the same thing, we are legally considered to be doing RPT (Regular Public Transport), which we are not permitted to do. If the Visitor’s Centre rings and books 4 passengers as a single group on a scenic flight, then that is OK, because it is one booking and is not considered an RPT flight. As Pauline would say “Please Explain”?

This is the kind of brick wall we are up against. CASA are making up new rules and regulations just because they have the power, unlimited funds and unlimited control to do so. The Minister and the CASA Board, that most would imagine “control” CASA can only advise the DOA. That scenario is unbelievable but, the Keating Government set it up so that no Minister could ever be responsible if Qantas killed 300 people and no politician since has had the balls to change it, including yourself and the current Government.

There is a very real alternative available to us; that is to get Air Operators Certificates in New Zealand, or another State with free trade agreements with Australia, and create true havoc in bureaucratic circles, but at least we would have a set of rules that we can understand, comply with and retain sanity.

We thank you for not responding to our previous correspondence because it totally justifies our feelings towards you.

Regards

[outnabout]

Ben Morgan / Lima Mike Sierra:


Well said, that man / woman, well said!!


Just to add to the confusion:
If the Visitor’s Centre rings and books 4 passengers as a single group on a scenic flight, then that is OK, because it is one booking and is not considered an RPT flight. As Pauline would say “Please Explain”?


I am pretty sure under the current legislation that scenic flights can be sold as an individual seat provided the scenic flight does not stop anywhere (1 hour flight over Broome, sure, no problem. A flight to the horizontal waterfalls with lunch at Cape Leveque - not so much). If the scenic flight stops for lunch then this allows a passenger could hop off at the lunch stop and the flight could then be classified as an RPT flight.


Also, the Visitor's Centre can not promote the scenic flight, or advertise that tickets can be bought at the Visitor Centre. I think it is 1988 CAR 210 or 206 (somewhere thereabouts) that says that only the holder of an AOC can promote or sell charter flights...


as always willing to be corrected....