Essential change

Rebuilding a regulator such as CASA from the ground up (or the top down) will not be easy and will require even more patience from industry, despite the clear identification of shortcomings through the Pel-Air Senate inquiry, the ASRR process and the policy work of groups such as the Australian Aviation Associations Forum.

Leadership of CASA is at a crossroads. Advertisements have been placed for a new CEO, the Minister has successfully guided new legislation through the Parliament to add missing skills to the CASA board, and the report of the ASRR is likely to identify a range of initiatives to improve the performance of CASA and other aviation bodies.

The ongoing train wreck that is aviation regulatory ‘reform’ is clearly an issue that needs an ‘Ockham’s razor’ style approach. When the proposed ‘reforms’ are actually taking us backwards and making us perpetually less competitive while making safety compliance increasingly difficult due to complexity, then someone needs to point out that the Emperor is wearing no clothes.

Tin ears in CASA are leading to indecent haste – after years of inactivity – to push rules to Parliament and falsely claim they have industry support.

Industry has been very clear – it is plain silly to persist with major changes, to regulations or structures, until the current ASRR has made its report to the Minister and the government has responded.

Rather than a strategic approach, the current activity simply highlights the incapacity of the CASA board to exert any control or leadership, or to provide wise counsel that it would be sensible to wait and see what the ASRR process creates.

The fact that current management is actively involved in the debate regarding the future of regulations – such as dismissing the usefulness of looking at a system that works – like NZ – is a major misreading of what is appropriate for a management group that is effectively in limbo and under a cloud of almost universal industry condemnation.

The key issue is how will we rebuild both CASA and its

Someone needs to point out that the Emperor is wearing no clothes.

relationship with industry. A significant change of personnel at both board and executive level is critical, as is a decent burial for the failed and discredited ‘Big R’ regulator model with additional funding that has led to the current mess.

Smaller, more strategic and the constant pursuit of efficiency should be the new targets.

Modern aviation relies on a mature and cooperative relationship between regulator and regulated – get the gradient of authority wrong and the wheels will fall off – as anyone attending a CRM course knows. Of course the cowboys have to be weeded out or educated/regulated up, but that doesn’t meanthe entire industry should suffer through regulations written with such a pessimistic and legally-driven world view.

Rebuilding trust through a focus on win-win scenarios, putting resources where they will do the most good, and gaining a coherent strategic view of industry risks and how best to manage them should empower the new management of CASA that is coming over the next six months.

But the real tests will be the way CASA seeks to engage with industry, its stance on being clever rather than confrontational and the outcomes, efficiencies and improvements that its new systems must deliver.

If it ends up being ‘business as usual’ for the regulator, then it might just be ‘lights out’ for significant sections of the industry.

Convention 2014 – Hobart – book now!

The annual AAAA Convention in Hobart is shaping up as a great learning opportunity as well as a lot of fun. With coverage of issues as diverse as creating a great workplace to the latest from aircraft manufacturers and with training courses on application safety including wires, human factors and CRM to software training and using apps, the Convention will have something for everyone.

Keynote speaker David Foster – the champion axeman – is back by popular demand, and AAAA’s favourite clinical psychologist Anastasia Novella will be joining the dots between emotions and aviation safety.

You can book your place at the Convention by going to the AAAA website – www. aerialag. com. au.