[Peetwo]

Betsy's: How to obfuscate Budget Estimates on the Aviation Sector?? - 

From Betsy's FOI disclosure log:

10 May 2024 FOI 24-278 2023–2024 Additional Budget Estimates—Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport—Departmental Key Briefs

From the 541 pages, of possible Senate Estimates talking points and possible Senator questions, the Aviation Sector gets mentions from pages 350 to 402 and includes such subjects as the Croc-o-shite report, Aviation Agencies: Funding & current issues and of course the Aviation White (Elephant) Paper:

Key Issues Transport Safety and Investigation Bodies Funding and Operational Review (the Review)
• On September 2023, the Government appointed Professor John Skerritt to lead the Review. As part of the Review, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts is providing secretariat support.
• To inform the Review, an external consultant was contracted to undertake Activity Based Costing models and stakeholder consultation was undertaken with a range of aviation, maritime and rail stakeholders.
• The Review will provide the Government with a report detailing recommendations for consideration as part of the 2024-25 Budget process. OneSKY
• The OneSKY/Civil Military Air Traffic Management System (CMATS) Program is an Airservices and Defence partnership to replace Australia’s ageing and separate civil and military air traffic management systems with a new single national system.
• The Program has incurred significant delays and the Defence component has been listed as a Project of Concern (POC) by the Minister for Defence Industry. This decision was publicly announced on 27 October 2022. Governance and reporting measures have been strengthened to enable identification and treatment of emerging risks and issues.
• Four POC Summits have been held, to pave a way forward for the Program. The latest was held in early December 2023, co-convened by the Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Pat Conroy MP, and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Catherine King MP. A fifth POC is scheduled for May 2024. Further information is available in media releases published by Minister Conroy. ATSB Safety Findings
• On 22 November 2023, the ATSB released its investigation report into a helicopter accident near King River, Northern Territory, which resulted in the death of a person collecting crocodile eggs while suspended on a sling line from the helicopter.
• The report found that CASA did not have an effective process in place for assuring an authorisation would be unlikely to adversely affect safety. As a result, CASA delegates did not: identify and assess the risks; ensure appropriate and adequate mitigations were included as conditions of the approval; or assess the effects of changes on the overall risk. This resulted in the removal of height, speed, and exposure limits, allowing carriage of the egg collector above a survivable fall height.

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[If raised] – Will the Aviation White Paper deliver Sydney Airport slot reform?
• The Government is considering the recommendations from the Review of the Sydney Airport Demand Management Scheme, an independent review by Mr. Peter Harris AO.
• The Government has recently concluded targeted consultation regarding potential changes to the Scheme, with a particular eye to modernising the slot allocation framework and strengthening compliance measures to ensure that slots are not being misused by airlines. • The Government has stated it will have more announcements to make about these reforms in due course. [If raised] – How will the Aviation White Paper support achieving net zero by 2050?
• The Government has committed to net zero emissions by 2050 and has implemented new reforms to the Safeguard Mechanism requiring annual emissions reductions for Australia’s largest emitters, including Qantas and Virgin Australia.
• The Aviation Green Paper outlines potential policy settings that support the aviation sector’s transition to net zero and seeks industry and community views on these.
• The policy settings are also being considered by the Jet Zero Council, which brings together representatives from across Australia’s aviation industry with government to collaborate on the most effective ways to reduce emissions.
• The Council is considering the role of sustainable aviation fuels, emerging technologies and operational efficiencies on the path to net zero.
• The Government is also developing a Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Roadmap. The Roadmap will form the Australian Government’s sectoral emissions reduction plan for transport, including aviation (refer to SB23-000858 - Net Zero Transport and Infrastructure Roadmap for additional information). [If raised] – Will the Aviation White Paper ensure a more transparent and open bilateral framework?
• The policy of successive governments has been to negotiate bilateral agreements that provide ‘capacity ahead of demand’ and seek benefits in the national interest. • Australia has air services agreements with more than 100 countries facilitating international travel to and from Australia.
• The department will undertake bilateral negotiations with other key international priority markets over the next year. These markets are determined after consultation with airlines, airports, tourism bodies, and government agencies.
• The Aviation Green Paper notes the Government considers the current approach to bilateral air services negotiations appears well adapted to supporting the national interest, but seeks stakeholder views on opportunities to improve the approach to international negotiations.
• Refer to SB23-000944 – Bilateral Air Services Agreements for additional information.

Hmm...IMO the notable omission in this Betsy weasel worded confection is the ICAO audit final report findings and recommendations?? - 

MTF...P2