Rebuilding trust – a plan for GA

Good government is built on a trust between the electors and their representatives that the electorates’ interests – as distinct from political parties’ interests – will be served.

When that trust begins to look frayed as a result of government indifference to community and industry calls for better government, then politicians should sit up and take notice.

When five leading GA associations come together and create a plan for improved government of the sector, it is because they believe that their trust in government doing the right thing is still viable.

The GA Rescue Plan, put out in the second last week of the election campaign to highlight the lack of political interest, understanding and imagination for general aviation, generated a lot of interest in the industry, but no meaningful response from political parties.

The Labor party rested on its effort of the While Paper which at best was disappointing, while the Coalition issued a modest effort that didn’t extend to any consultation with industry.

While both policies had some positive initiatives, neither painted a vision for aviation that inspires trust.

The real problem is two-fold – firstly that party politicians appear to have a default setting that ‘they know best’ for aviation, without having any real and honest engagement with industry, and secondly, that there is little vision in politics for how to make aviation an even more vibrant contributor to the Australian common wealth.

Industry has shown that with even a little effort, it is possible to develop policy that is both cost effective, stimulatory and capable of delivering improvements in safety.

If, for example, CASA was to treat GA with a smarter approach on a number of fronts – from stalled regulatory reform to simplified rules for alcohol and drug programs and improved licensing and training requirements – then GA would be more likely to leap rather than limp ahead.

Cooperative regulation is what most modern regulators do. They may not like admitting it when they are under pressure after crashes, but government acting alone cannot deliver aviation safety.

It is the companies, the pilots, the engineers and the support crew who deliver aviation safety.

It is their commitment, their drive and their enthusiasm for making aviation better that leads government regulators – not the other way around.

It is the companies, the pilots, the engineers and the support crew who deliver aviation safety.

Of course, regulators play a critical role – especially in ensuring that all companies and individuals meet minimum safety standards and that ‘cowboys’ are stamped out – but so much of what regulators insist upon is poorly thought out and delivered and so actually becomes a distraction from safety rather than a means of delivering it.

In GA, the drug and alcohol testing regime is a good example.

Industry fully supports the concept of alcohol and drug testing – but the current means of delivery – DAMPS and all the ensuing heavy-handedness – are now working to distract from the real outcome required.

A simpler approach would be to simply abandon the DAMP system for GA and maintain the CASA random testing. That would be simple, effective, easy to comply with and practical in regional and rural areas that don’t have the same health support and testing services of the cities.

Similarly, a more coherent approach to a classification of operations policy could significantly speed up regulatory reform in the aerial work sector. A clearer classification of operations policy that puts meat on the bones of the ‘simple regulations for simple operations’ principle would free up the current approach that has stalled regulatory reform.

A small task force approach – incorporating relevant industry expertise – rather than the current unworkable Standards Consultative Committee process, would be more likely to deliver workable regulatory reform in the short term.

For a change, government and bureaucracies must begin to focus on outcomes, not just processes.

Trust between government and industry can only be fostered when industry can see its genuine concerns are being listened to and acted upon to deliver safety and cost results that help us all.

The previous approaches of political parties to turn their back on genuine high level engagement with industry has actually eroded trust rather than created it.

Whether aviation’s ongoing trust in government delivering on the national interest is warranted will be a test for all regulators and politicians over the term of this government. n Australian Aviation is proud to be the official supporting journal of the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia. The views in this column are those of the AAAA, and not necessarily Australian Aviation’s.