Australian Flying - July 2018

12 FLYING LATEST NEWS

News

ACT

CHANGE

PG 12

MULTICOM

PG 13

For years, people in the

aviation community

have pointed to the Civil

Aviation Act 1988 as being

one of the primary factors

that is preventing the

industry from moving

on to bluer skies. The

governing document that

enables civil aviation in

Australia, it states that

safety is more important

that any other factors when

it come to regulation.

It has led to accusations

of CASA hiding behind

safety as a reason to enact

heavy-handed regulation

without any regard to the

cost impost of compliance.

One of the greatest

proponents of changing the

Act to give CASA the dual

mandate of both safety and

economic health has been

aviator and businessman

Dick Smith. According to

Smith, he had negotiated

with both then Deputy

Prime Minister Barnaby

Joyce and Shadow

Minister Anthony

Albanese to amend the

act, which was effectively

canceled when Joyce was

forced to the backbench.

Smith resorted to

delivering a speech at

Wagga Wagga in April,

which reinforced his call to

change the Act wording,

which currently says:

CASA must regard the safety

of air navigation as the most

important consideration.

"Now that sounds

like a great motherhood

statement," Smith told

the gathering. "In fact,

it's more a dishonest

marketing slogan that

would suit a f ly-by-night

shonky airline ... or one of

our major banks.

"It's a lie, because there

are many times when

the most important

consideration is cost. That's

just commonsense. For

example, airline aircraft

could be fitted with ejection

capsules for each seat that

could be activated at the

time of a hijack. Safety

would be improved, but

the cost of the air tickets

would be prohibitive.

"To this day, the

bureaucrats have fought to

ensure that this wording

remains, and this has been

the driving force behind

the destruction of our

once viable general

aviation industry."

Subsequent to the

speech, representatives

of the newly-formed

Australian General

Aviation Alliance (AGAA)

Ben Morgan and Ken

Cannane met with

Minister McCormack and

drew a promise that his

department would consider

change if the industry

could reach consensus on

the new wording.

AGAA has scheduled

an industry summit for

Wagga Wagga in early

July to thrash out what

the industry wants in

order to present a proposal

to the minister.

Crucially for the change

campaign, David Forsyth,

author of 2014's Aviation

Safety Regulation Review

(ASRR) report has aired

his support for changing

the Act, despite the

ASRR not making that

recommendation.

"During the ASRR,

the panel specifically did

not recommend a dual

mandate, in part due to

debate about dual mandates

being unworkable as part

of the Royal Commission

into the Pikes River

disaster in New Zealand,

and issues arising from

the Valujet accident in

the USA," Forsyth told

Australian Flying.

"The panel also believed

at the time, that with

the right approach and a

willing regulator, a better

balance of sustainability

and safety would be

achieved. That belief

proved to be misplaced,

as for the two years after

the ASRR, the regulator

continued to demonstrate

its unwillingness to change

its culture or to take a

more balanced approach.

"Fortunately that has

improved since Shane

Carmody took up the

DAS role. The ongoing

concern, however, is that

when Shane leaves CASA,

it is likely that the old

culture could return.

"That is why I agree

with Dick that the Act

needs to be changed, to

ensure that the regulator

does not hide behind

the primacy of safety

to the exclusion of

everything else, including

sustainability."

According to Dick

Smith, making the change

will do more than heal a

festering sore, it will also

drive growth within the

general aviation industry.

"The new minister ...

Mr Michael McCormack,

has a huge opportunity

to support these

commonsense changes

to get aviation, especially

aviation in the bush,

thriving again," Smith

concluded. "We could

become the world leaders

in f lying training ... tens

of millions of additional

export dollars could be

earned promoting massive

investment in both

infrastructure and services

in our country towns and

regional centres."

It has been Getting the Act Together

mooted around

the industry for

some time, but

now it seems

there is genuine

momentum to

change the Civil

Aviation Act.

AUSTRALIAN FLYING July – August 2018

Dick Smith believes

changing the act will

revitalise general

aviation, especially

in the bush.