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Will Anything Change With The Death Of The Caa?
As announced almost a year ago the Civil Aviation Authority was to be officially put to death on June 30, to be replaced by two new agencies on July 1. Yet even with all the time available to it the bureaucracy still couldn’t get its act sufficiently together to ensure that AirServices Australia (ASA) or the Civil Aviation Safety Agency (CASA) were in fact able to commence operation on that date. Legislative delays and general confusion ensured that both made it to the runway several weeks late while at time of writing the former still did not even have a chief executive. And that’s hardly surprising when you consider the fate that has befallen the majority of senior executives of the old CAA. There are some jobs that are plums and other that are merely rotten fruit, regrettably the CAA had become a greenhouse of the latter, so beyond fixing that, the only options left for the Minister was to simply close it down and try and start again. A good idea you say but what is the difference between the CAA and ASA/CASA? I will tell you the difference. Firstly, there are two names to remember now instead of one. This is not entirely surprising since the body responsible for overseeing civil aviation in Australia has changed its name more than a dozen times it seems since this magazine took wing in 1977. If perchance over the years staff members sometimes forget who they are working for, well you could hardly blame them, could you? The second difference between the two new agencies and the CAA is, well, nothing. Let’s be honest. Will there be a radical change of employees, no. Will there be a radical shakeup to rid the organisations of the absurd nineteenth century Public Service work rules that the CAA was burdened with despite being colourfully tagged as a GBE. No. Will the same people remain, making the same day to day decisions and the same mistakes, most probably yes. Is it really any wonder that jets go missing on radar, that separation standards break down and that airliners are routed so as to come into conflict with other traffic. Why are so many CAA people off on stress? Why is it that Comcare is investigating the overall levels of stress after finding that workers at Darwin (where you would think that life was relatively laid back compared with Sydney or Melbourne) had a serious health problem following their intensely negative feelings towards senior management. This may sound like CAA bashing and perhaps it is, but is there something good that we can honestly write about this agency and the two new bodies that replace it? I sincerely hope that a year from now all will be sweetness and light but even the born optimist within me finds this difficult to envisage. A major problem has always been, from Day One, that the CAA (and FAC) were really only set up by the Federal Government to make money. You see, a Government Business Enterprise has to pay a raft of extra costs to Government that a regular government department is exempt from. Sales tax, payroll tax and dozens of other fiscal burdens reap a small fortune for any government that is smart (and greedy) enough to begin turning its departments into trendy GBEs. It’s also a great way to get rid of people and rearrange the corporate deck chairs, though ironically the senior management usually ends up getting large pay rises on the moot excuse that “the government has to now compete with industry”. This is exactly what happened to the CAA back in the late eighties though things didn’t really get moving until several years later with the now infamous Review of Resources. Certainly there was a great need to cut the deadwood from the Australian Aviation August 1995 CAA and a need to introduce major reforms. However at no point was there an attempt to rewrite the agency’s mode of operation to change the basic philosophy of how it operates. It was trying to be a lusty new generation born again business enterprise whilst totally shackled to the day to day deadweight of the Commonwealth Public Service — that immense deathbed of innovation, creativity, accountability and efficiency. The creation of ASA and CASA might just work if it introduces some new people that are aviation minded, though we aren’t convinced at this time that a year from now there will be any difference between the dying months of the CAA and what replaces it.
So What Was Wrong With The Caa?
Who can answer that. Probably the easiest way is to simply say that everything was wrong and start anew. Morale is low, management is in constant turmoil, whether fighting for its life or just settling into the hotseat, and through it all we have never had a Minister that has sincerely cared about what the CAA was meant to do or for that matter in sympathy with the problems of the aviation industry in general. Take the composition of the new boards of both agencies. Out of the 11 people listed, there are just two with a practical real world working knowledge of aviation. The others may be wonderfully caring, hard working human beings, but we honestly fail to see what people from the film industry, cosmetics, food retailing or charity work fields can add to help steer these two new agencies into untroubled waters. If that wasn’t bad enough there is absolutely no representation for General Aviation on either board whilst the only two members with aviation experience are from major airlines. Why couldn’t the boards be made up of real aviation minded people? There is a plethora of highly skilled, pragmatic and very literate aviation people out there who could actually do something to get what was the CAA back on track. Is the real reason that the Minister and his beloved Government would not wish to have boards made up of people who just might have their own opinions (developed through years of real world practical experience) conflicting with what the Government may deem as politically and financially acceptable? The chief executive of the Civil Aviation Safety Agency, Leroy Keith, certainly has his work cut out for him. CASA, what was effectively DASR in the CAA before it, was really where the bulk of the problems resided. We wish Leroy well and hope that just for once the Minister will show enough interest to back him in instituting the reforms that need to be undertaken to take aviation safety off the front pages of the daily press. AirServices Australia at press time still didn’t have the luxury of even having a CEO which is unusual considering that ASA should have it relatively easy in comparison with its sister, CASA. Looking after the ATC and related pay for service components of the old CAA, it should be able to avoid most of the trauma of CASA providing the run of embarrassing ATC fiascos of the past year cease. When you think though of what happened to Frank Baldwin, Rob Edwards, Doug Roser and George Macionis plus dozens of others behind the scenes it is little wonder that there isn’t exactly a queue for either job. Even Leroy Keith came into the local scene from overseas. We can only live in hope that it will all work out, after all, we poor stupid taxpayers have no choice until the next election and then perhaps we can all at last bode a fond farewell to Laurie Brereton, the man we all love to hate. In the end though, the choice is yours!
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