All politics is local

If other board appointments are of similar experience and calibre, then there is certainly an increased chance of long-term improvement to CASA and especially its relationship with industry.

The Forsyth report has made useful recommendations, but nothing that industry and many in government weren’t already convinced had to happen to get the regulatory system back to a trusted and more mature benchmark of performance.

In terms of almost all recommendations of the report – other than those around ATSB providing identifiable safety data to CASA – the only question has been ‘how soon can it be implemented?’ AAAA has already provided detailed feedback to government on the report and some critical elements of essential aviation reform that it missed, such as changes to the Act and a clean sweep of current board members and senior management.

However, the Coalition government has now been in place 12 months. This leaves less than a year for real reform and sensible resolution of urgent policy before Australia swings into election mode again and outcome improvements become near impossible.

The major recommendations of the Forsyth report, including a much more powerful independent complaints commissioner to drive transparency and accountability, are likely to take a while to gather momentum, assuming that the government, having commissioned the report, is intent on implementing its recommendations.

Bold, forthright and decisive ministerial action should now be encouraged by all in industry to support the implementation of the Forsyth recommendations and any additional measures that are necessary to lock in good practice and a healthier regulatory culture.

With a new senate in Canberra even the idea of being able to develop and pursue policy, because it is good for the country is, going to be challenged. The predictable short-term deal-making and back room horse-trading is likely to lead to bizarre outcomes – let alone strange bedfellows. The key challenge for the aviation industry is to ensure a strong and united voice is presented to government and to all members of parliament.

In the words of Tip O’Neill, legendary past US House Speaker, “All politics is local”. The significance of this is that everyone in the aviation industry – business owners, pilots, LAMEs, support staff – have a responsibility to speak directly to their local House of Representatives member and their local senator about the issues that are affecting them.

A half-hour spent with your local representative is a great investment in your industry – especially if you focus on providing answers rather than just describing problems. Associations have already developed a solid policy base – have a look at the Australian Aviation Associations Forum policies on the AAAA website for example. Only by working at pan-industry, sector and individual levels will we turn the whiff of reform into a steady breeze of improvement.

AAAA Hobart Convention success

AAAA’s Annual Convention was again well attended with delegates enjoying a wide range of motivational, educational and technical speakers. The convention also featured a training day covering CRM, HR and wire risk management with an alternative stream on IT skills, social media and cloud applications.

The AAAA Awards were presented at the gala dinner, with Peter Travers recognised with the Ray Mackay Award for his work on developing the integrated management system for aerial application companies. Mark Forgione and David McAnally were recognised with the ProfessionalPilots Award and the inaugural Leland Snow Innovation Award was presented to Judy and Peter Middlebrook of Gunnedah, NSW for their support of the aviation industry through a local scholarship program.

The annual Col Pay Scholarship was won by Alistair Farnhill, while the QBE Aerial Application Scholarship was taken out by Mark and Kylie Brear of Riverina Cropcare who will be investigating the use of sophisticated aviation performance monitoring equipment for aerial application. The winner of last year’s QBE Scholarship, Dom Maher, delivered a comprehensive and encouraging report on the potential use of simulators in aerial application and an overview of what was already available in the marketplace.

Convention 2015 will be a joint Convention with the NZAAA in Queenstown, New Zealand from June 29 to July 2.