Comment

Dota…

Help or Hindrance?

Mr Ian Perry is currently Chairman of the Australian Region Branch of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN) and spent 32 years as a senior officer with DCA/DOT before retiring in 1980. His views offer us considerable insight into the current DoTA situation and what it forebodes for the future.

The release of the General Aviation Study by the Department of Transport in early 1981 brought howls of indignation from the GA industry at the recommendations contained therein and renewed calls for a separate Department of Aviation that somehow would restore the “halcyon” days of pre-1973 to the Australian aviation scene.

• Various people have gone on record saying that the Department of Transport is a monolithic assembly of people the senior members bf who are not really interested in civil aviation and have introduced policies that are unworkable in practice.
• Because of shortcomings in administrative procedures the safety of those who use aircraft as a means of transport is at risk.
• The insistence by the government on moving public servants to a transport headquarters in Canberra lost experienced civil aviation policy staff and valuable expertise in the operational and technical areas.
• Forced interchange of staff between the various modes of transport (the multimodal concept) has not helped the civil aviation industry.
• There has been a lack of adequate performance by both Ministers of and Permanent Head of the Department of Transport in civil aviation matters since October 1973.

No one has gone on record as to how a separate Department of Aviation might be established – but is it necessary?

Past history reveals that, in early 1973 the Whitlam Government amalgamated the Departments of Civil Aviation and Shipping and Transport. The “example” of Canadian government administration was freely mooted as the likely model for the restructuring of Australian government departments under that government.

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