[Peetwo]

Point of difference: A captured Minister vs a Minister in charge?

Truss: Aviation Safety Regulation Review [Archive] - Page 5 - PPRuNe ...

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Truss: Aviation Safety Regulation Review [Archive] - Page 5 - PPRuNe Forums

The following is a short but telling example of why IMO I believe our Minister of the Crown (like Truss in 2014 - above) is nothing more than a Muppet whose strings are being manipulated by the aviation safety bureaucracy.

As we all know the RRAT Senate Committee in Estimates oversights two Federal Crown Departments - Infrastructure and Regional Development; & Agriculture and Water Resources.    This provides a perfect point of comparison in the running of two very important departments.

So for the purpose of the exercise lets take a look at the individual departmental pages for last Budget Estimates off the RRAT committee web pages:

1. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus..._Resources

Questions on Notice Index

 Download the index (PDF 957KB)

2. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus...and_Cities

Questions on Notice Index

 Download the index (PDF 957KB)

Granted there is not much difference in the pages and the linked QON index are similar in size with the Agriculture dept having 206 QON vs Infrastructure having 235 QON.

However this is where the similarities diverge...

If you click on this link - HERE - you will see that the RRAT Estimates main page comes up. 

Now scroll down to the ' current questions on notice' list. Hit the 'show' box to 'ALL' and you'll see without exception Minister Littleproud's Agriculture dept has answered all 206 QON. 

Now keep scrolling down to miniscule 4G (Norman the Ram) McDonothing's dept and you will see without exception that all 235 QON are overdue and yet to be answered...  

No comment required me'thinks, except to say BAA! 

MTF...P2   

Footnote: P7 twiddle -   

Baa, baa Wagga sheep, have you any brains-

Yes Sir, yes Sir, three thimbles full;

Two for re-election, half for my claims:

And a half one for aviation- a’goin down the drain.

[Gobbledock]

P2;

“the ' current questions on notice' list. Hit the 'show' box to 'ALL' and you'll see without exception Minister Littleproud's Agriculture dept has answered all 206 QON. Now keep scrolling down to miniscule 4G (Norman the Ram) McDonothing's dept and you will see without exception that all 235 QON are overdue and yet to be answered...”

Nice catch mate! Mr Littleproud is known to be a diligent hard working Minister whose Department wouldn’t dare take the piss out of him and make him look like a flaccid penis. On the other hand, McDo’nothing works about as hard as two turtles fu#king. He makes Council road workers look like olypmpic athletes! Predecessor Truss (before the Barn Owl) also moved about as fast as a boiled lollie. Both are/were inept and unable to manage the shonks, sharks, academics, imbeciles and piss-takers heading the alphabet soup agencies beneath them. McDo’nothing is as intelligent as Ozzy Osbourne on crack cocaine.

You know, us aviation folk are goverened by risk management practises and we all have our own individual risk matrix, often containing a top 10 or 20 risks to our business that we consider on a regular basis. I believe number 1 on that list should read; ‘Deputy Prime Ministers department’. The inactivity, lack of accountability, ineffective oversight and decline in aviation standards and safety can be directly traced back to his department. But shhhhh, don’t tell Graeme Clawfoot that. Hoody has taught him well when it comes to ‘correcting the record’.

Oh well, Wingnut should be back from Singapore soon after his ear reduction surgery and who knows, maybe they also sewed a pair of testicles onto his ‘vacant area’? Here’s to dreaming....

“Tick Tock Graeme and friends”

[P7_TOM]

Good catch P2; nice one...........

Donowt Nats - “The CASA is a statutory body and, as minister, I cannot direct it on safety regulations”.

Call BOLLOCKS and ‘cop out’ and bullshit and disingenuous: part 9 and 9A of the Act are “stand alone” instructions – from the government – to CASA. Change the wording you daft mutt; give ‘em ‘new’ instructions and tell to stop being so bloody useless and expensive.

Gods – give me strength. The amount of time and energy this Klutz is wasting ducking and weaving is shameful – the paperwork could be done by now. Betcha a beer Balmy would have had it sorted; just like Littleproud has. The same worthy also manages to get his QoN answered on time. I guess he owns his department – not owned by it.

Resign DoNowt – it will be the only ‘genuine’, helpful thing for Australia you’ve ever done. Do it now, before it’s too late and an industry is destroyed.

“No – no thanks Son, I won’t have one; best not the mood I’m in, probably end up throwing rocks at the traffic.

[Peetwo]

TICK..TOCK goes the 4G aviation clock - 

First a pint of LMH OP...  

Ref: LMH 03/08/18

Since when is flying under the oversight of an incorrect solution safe?

There have been a couple of instances this week where interpretation has misled people to make some erroneous statements with a great deal of honesty. Please forgive me if I don't go into them; I'll probably just make the same mistakes. But for me it has put intense focus on the problem of complexity in Australia's aviation rules and the language we use to write them. CASA, the government and the Labor Party are sticking to their guns that the primary focus of aviation regulation must be safety, so how the hell they allow regulations to be written the way they are is simply bewildering. It is not in any way safe for regulations to be open to interpretation in such a way that they are regularly misinterpreted! There is an old saying in the technical writing industry: if there are two ways to intrepret what you wrote, someone will interpret it the way you didn't mean. David Forsyth touched on this in the ASRR report handed down in 2014, recommending we start talking in plain English, and it needs to happen very soon. I am pleased to see that CASA has said the Manual of Standards for the new GA maintenance regs will be done in plain English; this is a good start in what is a very long road. However, there is still the problem of complexity, which was highlighted at the recent GA summit at Wagga Wagga when hard copies of all the Australian regs were laid out on a table. There were five four-ring binders, two two-ring binders and ERSA. By comparison, the US regs were sat along side them: two books. I'm going to again quote my favourite philosophy because I think it's very pertinent here. Ockham's Razor says "All thing being equal, the simplest answer tends to be the correct one." It therefore follows that the most complex answer tends to be the incorrect one. Since when is flying under the oversight of an incorrect solution safe?

 
Next a chaser of Sharpie OP rum...

Ref: Mount Gambier Hansard now out


Mr Sharp : ...CASA generally frightens everybody in the industry on a daily basis! Yes, there have been a lot of problems. One of the issues that you may be aware of is indemnity for flying instructors because, when they certify a pilot, they technically carry a liability attached to that pilot that they certified for the rest of that pilot's working life. To cover that risk, that liability, you need some form of either indemnity or insurance. Even if you retire from flying instruction, you still carry the liability, so it's very difficult for people. If you no longer earn an income from flying instructing but carry a liability, how do you cover the cost of the insurance for that? It's very difficult...

... It could be. But it is an issue that the government is cognisant of, and I think the minister made a statement at a meeting in Wagga just recently, with GA operators, announcing some indemnity there for instructors. So that's a help. But these are the things that occur. The government should be helping, and yet, by removing the indemnities and making instructors personally liable for any damage, all that does is make being an instructor a very unattractive business...

And finally a snifter of Sterlo's Chairman port...  

CHAIR: ..There's CASA. Don't start us on CASA!But, anyway, there's CASA. Surely, political leadership should say something along the lines of: 'Get your act together or bang your heads together and I'll do it.'...

 
MTF...P2 

[Gobbledock]

THE CARBOARD CUTOUT SPOTTED BREATHING

Unfortunately I switched the TV on this morning and it landed on Ch 7. Firstly I get to see some completely nauseating things such as David Kock rambling as usual like a complete moron. This was followed by one of the Banking sectors chief bullshit artists and chief Footstools for Malcom’s banks, Craig James from CommSec (Michael ‘full of shit’ Pascoe on Ch 9 is the other footstool of the Banksters). Then we have Turdball and McDo’nothing travelling to drought affected communities pretending to give a shit. We’ve seen the Governments contempt for the aviation industry, returned war heroes and pensioners, not to mention them giving away billions to foreign countries in aid while our country is fed a shit sandwich. And now they disingenuously pop out West for a few hours to pretend that help is coming! Ha. A pathetic gift of $12,500 for those in desperate need. What a crock of shit. A farm will churn through that in one week.


I hope the two Parliamentarians didn’t get sunburnt or ingest a fly while spending a big 2 hours in the heartland of Australia. I simply can’t imagine how hard it must have been for these two arseclowns to leave the air conditioned comfort of Parlousment House and all the fine restaurants in Canberra. Poor diddums.

VOTE OUT THE LNP AND MAKE AUSTRALIA GREAT AGAIN

[thorn bird]

Maybe you can help assuage my curiosity GD.

Heard a strange call sign on the airways the other day
coming into Sydney.
"WISDOM 123", never heard it before, asked my fellow pilot,
he didn't know. Just pulled up at the terminal and a Guv-mint
BBJ rolled in behind us.
"Surely not" my fellow pilot asked. "What?" says I.
"If that government aircraft carries the callsign "WISDOM 123'
its a complete contradiction of terms" says he.

[Gobbledock]

Thorny;

“Maybe you can help assuage my curiosity GD”

Thorny, you need to get your ears checked mate. I’m booking you an appointment right now to see Dr PonyPoohshan Navathe. You didn’t hear ‘WISDOM 123’, you heard ‘WANKER 123’. Same aircraft often uses the call sign “TROUGH DWELLER 123’ and ‘FU@KTARD 123’.

Best regards
Gobbles.

"K" -
"WISDOM 123",


Wanton
Infantile
Sequacious
Depleting
Others
Money
 
1 for the master
2 for the Dame
And three for the little boy, a running down the lane.
 
Lots of fun to had there GD &TB; Choc frog in it…..

[Gobbledock]

GET OUT THE CHUNDER BUCKETS BOYS!!!

From the link below;

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is seeking industry input on a new set of maintenance regulations for the general aviation sector.
The nation’s aviation safety watchdog said the new regulations being developed aimed to “minimise the regulatory burden on general aviation, keep compliance costs as low as possible and be based on the best practices of other leading aviation nations”.
“CASA is currently working to develop a new set of maintenance regulations tailored specifically for general aviation (GA), that will be based on the example of best practices in other leading aviation nations,” CASA said on its website.

http://australianaviation.com.au/2018/08...nce-rules/

HA HA HA HA CAsA = Helping GA = Best practise = Pony Pooh.

“VOTE OUT THE TURNBULL GOVERNMENT AND MAKE AVIATION GREAT AGAIN”

[Peetwo]

4G leaves it to the experts (CASA) on airport safety - TICK..TOCK!   

References: Airport thread post #370 

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) 


11. CASA is Australia’s safety regulator for civil air operations and the operation of Australian aircraft overseas. CASA is responsible for the implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS). ICAO has not developed SARPS regarding PSZs.
 
12. CASA have a role in the regulation of ICAO mandated Runway End Safety Areas (RESA). RESAs are sometimes confused with PSZs. A RESA is a cleared ground area extending from the end of the runway strip for the purpose of decelerating an aircraft if it overruns the runway. - The RESA? What about the OLS & Mr Peabody's RSW? - ref: Oversight or lack there of - Part IV - UDB!

&.. from the Senate thread: KISS, (Liverpool type) it's the only way.

Then this:-


In March 2018 the Transport and Infrastructure Senior Officials' Committee (TISOC) agreed to the National Airports Safeguarding Advisory Group (NASAG) publicly consulting on the draft new National Airport Safeguarding Framework (NASF) Guideline—Managing the Risk in Public Safety Zones at the Ends of Runways.

FDS – The buildings at Essendon, those that were slammed into by a 5.7 ton aircraft, carrying a ton of fuel – (remember the fire ball) infringed the  SIDE of the runway ‘safety zones’. Not the approach and departure safety zones. You must not confuse the two. The Senators asking questions are being merrily led down a very smooth path to deception. 

I’ll make it crystal clear – through manipulation and sleight of legal hand, there are building which impinge on the ‘SIDE OF RUNWAY’ safety zones. The places where shopping outlets and passenger terminal buildings are located. There are minimum runway WIDTH parameters specified - for bloody good reasons – Essendon providing the quintessential example of why. What’s next FDS – coffee and fast food outlets along the taxi-ways?.

As a 'passing strange' coincidence I noted that on Thursday the miniscule was rubbing shoulders with Albo at some transport forum talkfest:

Speaking at the @UITPnews Australian Transport Summit in Melbourne this morning alongside @AlboMP. #auspol

https://twitter.com/M_McCormackMP/status...6091590656

---

Australians want their roads fixed and maintained and this is what we’re focused on. #auspol @UITPnews

https://twitter.com/M_McCormackMP/status...4012999680

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P2 - Grinning like a Suffolk Wether - God save our souls...

Well apparently after attending this bi-partisan (love-in) talkfest 4G needed to kill a bit of time and subsequently dropped into Essendon Fields; or maybe that was where the Govt BBJ was parked -   :

Great to visit @EssendonFields airport this afternoon with CEO Chris Cowan. #aviation

---

"..And this is a parked aircraft - something that you'll get used to seeing at airports around the country.." P2 

The miniscule even got to talk to Sharpie (no not that Sharpie -   )

.@EssendonFields has played a significant role in Melbourne’s economic growth.

It was the citiy’s international and domestic airport until 1970. It is now home to a range of charter flights and services and is well positioned to cater for more growth. #aviation

Hmm...wonder if they were discussing the Dept's proposed PSZ guidelines, or perhaps the Essendon Field's CEO wanted to discuss the idea of having a Macca's fly thru off the main runway...  

Anyway I'm sure in the fullness of time 4G's media adviser will put out a presser which will explain the purpose of the miniscule's doorstop visit??    

MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

4G appoints new Fort Fumble Chair -   

Via the Oz:

Matthews named CASA chair
ROBYN IRONSIDE
Industry veteran Tony Matthews has been named as the new chair of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

---

Aviation: Tony Matthews named new chairman of Civil Aviation Safety Authority

Industry veteran Tony Matthews has been named as the new chair of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which is facing a testing time.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack announced Mr Matthews’ three-year appointment, saying he brought a “wealth of experience” to the role. The former Qantas regional airline manager, Royal Flying Doctor Service manager, and qualified commercial and airline transport pilot is also deputy chair of the board of Airservices Australia.

Mr Matthews said he was looking forward to starting in the role on Monday, and hoped to achieve greater unity within the aviation industry. “I think we’ve got to work together and we’ve got to get rid of the animosity that has been going on,” he said in reference to recent CASA disputes with the general aviation community and pilots.

“I’ve been watching it, and I don’t think it’s good for anybody. You can’t be at loggerheads with each other and expect to reach an outcome, so we need to work on that to make sure we all move ahead in a positive direction.”

He said as a long-time member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association he understood concerns about “over-regulation”.

“Do I think we’re a bit over-regulated? I probably do actually, but let’s take a good look at that and see where we’re at,” he said. “In this environment it’s not easy to change things. You’ve got a whole legislative process to go through but I think CASA has done some great things over the years.”

Mr McCormack thanked outgoing chair Jeffrey Boyd for his “outstanding contribution”.

Pleased to announce Tony Mathews has been appointed as the new Chair of CASA. Tony brings a wealth of aviation safety and governance expertise to the role and I’m looking forward to working with him to ensure Australia maintains an air safety regulator that is world-class.

“I think we’ve got to work together and we’ve got to get rid of the animosity that has been going on...

...I’ve been watching it, and I don’t think it’s good for anybody. You can’t be at loggerheads with each other and expect to reach an outcome, so we need to work on that to make sure we all move ahead in a positive direction.”

Not that it really matters because we all know that the CASA Board is as good as useless and merely acts as an accountability and oversight filter for the 'useless as tits on a bull' miniscule 4G. However for the benefit of the new Chair here are some handy references for him to understand what it is he is up against  : 

M&M thread - http://www.auntypru.com/forum/showthread...28#pid9028

&..

While the wingnut is away? - Deputy dog adds fuel to the conflagration...  

It would appear the 2IC and Iron Ring's Scottish Git has seized the opportunity to come out firing in defense of the seemingly indefensible; i.e the fact that Fort Fumble over 30 years has been systematically destroying the Aussie aviation industry with their policy of 'Safe Skies are empty Skies'...    

CASA acting chief Graeme Crawford hits back over reform claims

CASA chief Graeme Crawford said he could not fix the broader economic and social changes that have hit general aviation.

The Australian

12:00AM July 27, 2018
ANDREW BURRELL

WA Chief Reporter
Perth
@AndrewBurrell7

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has defended its actions amid mounting criticism that overzealous regulation is killing Australia’s general ­aviation sector, rejecting claims it fails to consider the effect of costs on businesses when it sets the rules.

As The Australian revealed that Deputy Prime Minister ­Michael McCormack had halted a reform plan aimed at cutting costs, CASA acting chief executive Graeme Crawford told operators the regulator wanted solutions that were practical while also addressing safety risks.

Industry experts, including aviation veteran Dick Smith, have claimed that general aviation in Australia — which includes charter and private operations, flight training, maintenance and emergency medical services — is in crisis because of onerous and costly red tape.

But Mr Crawford said CASA could not fix the broader economic and social changes that have hit general aviation.

“Implicit in this debate is the suggestion by some people that CASA does not support a sustainable and viable general aviation sector,’’ he said in a briefing note.

“I would like to assure everyone this is simply not true. There is no CASA agenda against general aviation and we regard the sector as a vital component of the national aviation community.

“Many of CASA’s staff are participants in general aviation, or started their careers in the sector, and have a practical understanding of the issues and challenges the sector faces.”

The Australian reported yesterday that Mr McCormack had killed off a plan — endorsed by Barnaby Joyce in his final days in cabinet in February — to remove a key part of the Civil Aviation Act that requires CASA to ­“regard safety as the most important consideration”.

The changes, backed by opposition transport spokesman ­Anthony Albanese, instead would have required CASA to ­balance the “highest level of safety in air navigation” with the need for “an efficient and sustainable Australian aviation industry”.

Mr Smith, a former CASA chairman, said Mr Joyce was the only Coalition transport minister in the past 20 years to agree to ­reforms that would cut the regulatory burden on the industry without putting lives at risk.

He accused the others, including former deputy prime minister John Anderson, of being ­hostage to CASA and other ­bureaucrats who had introduced “gold-­plated” regulations with no consideration for the industry’s crippling costs.

Mr Anderson yesterday accused Mr Smith of ignoring his own failings.

“Mr Smith might reflect a little on the fact that both Labor and the Coalition gave him the chance to reform CASA as chairman,” he said. “Labor sacked him, and when I was minister he lost the confidence of his own board.

“I bent over backwards to try to deliver an efficient aviation sector. I have to say that Mr Smith made this harder, not easier.”

Mr Smith said Mr Anderson’s claim he was sacked by Labor was “completely wrong” because the then minister, Bob Collins, had asked him to stay on. “I was put on as the chairman of CASA by John Sharp with the idea of bringing in changes — then John Anderson became minister and wouldn’t support any changes.’’

Is it anyway wonder the miniscule/DPM eyes glaze over and appears to be the perfect portrait of a punch-drunk sheep...

Perhaps if the DPM wants some free non-alphabet and relatively friendly advice; he should perhaps talk to one of the major and longterm contributors to the economy of his electorate REX airlines. I'm sure Sharpie will be able to give MM a true insight into the totally unnecessary fiscal damages being inflicted by CASA on the REX bottom line:

Ref: Mount Gambier, TREX and a man for all seasons - John Sharp?

[/url]

General aviation industry left stunned by political backflip
The Australian
Dick Smith with his helicopter at his home in Terry Hills, Sydney. Picture:

Ps Who in their right mind would leave a narcissistic sociopath of this caliber in charge of the Fort?

Hmm...wonder if he has got McComic's mobile number on speed dial? Certainly has many of the pugmarks of former DAS don't you think? How long will it be before this IR stooge starts swinging his dick and dragging up section 9A of the Act...

Perhaps this is why the FF enforcement manual still contains McComic's moniker on the Director's preface - 

Commentary addendum  

First from Thursday's Oz article: 

Jim2 DAYS AGO


Time for a pilots general strike. Nothing serious or nationwide. Just no aeroplane leaves the ground with a politician in it, regardless of party or affiliation. If it was done during the last day of sitting week I would wager we would get a favourable result by lunchtime.

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Maureen2 DAYS AGO


Another industry we are killing off - Australia the clever Country.

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Gang Green2 DAYS AGO


Considering that CASA won't accept medical practice from Europe and the United States as valid regarding pilot health , why are we surprised ?

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Ray2 DAYS AGO


McCormack's statement is a cop-out. A useless Minister railroaded by a mostly-useless bureaucracy.

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Paul2 DAYS AGO



It would seem CASA runs a little fiefdom and runs over any minister who wishes to tidy it up. Probably threatens that any breach of safety will be called out as due to ministers cuts etc.

Good on Dick for speaking out about these problems. If not Dick who will do it?

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John2 DAYS AGO


Talk about fiddling while Rome burns, these bureaucrats in CASA will sit on their hands until our entire general aviation industry goes down the drain. Thank goodness Dick Smith is still out their pushing his case for affordable general aviation. Maybe it’s time for a clean out of the CASA board, this mob just don’t seem to get the fact, that time is fast running out for the general aviation industry in Australia, they have already brought it to its knees. How much longer are they going to twiddle their respective thumbs ???

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P2 - In reply to Robert...  

Robert2 DAYS AGO


Dick Smith is aghast at anything not in accord with his views. Why we haven’t turned over the entire aviation industry to this man is beyond me . Perhaps the relatively safe sky’s in this country has something to do with our reluctance to make this guy Air Chief Marshal.

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graham2 DAYS AGO



@Robert 
Dick was for awhile, the head of whatever we were, DCA, DOA, etc etc, there was resistance, but he brought us into line with the US way of doing business, and the US put functionality and efficiency before bureaucratic inertia, mostly.

Barnaby, Tony, Craig Kelly rotting on the back benches are the problem many of us see, the reason Turnbull can't turn the wick up on LNP popularity. 

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TG2 DAYS AGO


@Robert The CASA focus on safety is counter productive.  It has resulted in an old GA fleet and a pilot training industry on its knees.  Dick Smith is correct in his views.  I'm a GA pilot, own an aircraft and have a very good understanding of the financials of aero clubs.  If the rules don't change we will see more failures.

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William2 DAYS AGO


Clearly you have no insight into the aviation industry. Awash with ridiculous legislative requirements which add not a dot to safety.

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Stan2 DAYS AGO


@Robert good to see the "tall poppy syndrome" is alive and well. Dick made it and although don't always agree with his view he at least contributes where most of us don't dare. Where's your contribution to eradicating our problems.

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Betty2 DAYS AGO


Who would you put money on, Dick Smith or slow tortoise McCormack? Noone in this industry is backing the bureaucrats and their glove puppet MM.

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Tony2 DAYS AGO


CASA regulation has crippled General Aviation for decades.  Most pilots learn how to fly in technology from the 1960's.  Just imagine if you were still driving a car from the 1960.s.  CASA regulations make it so expensive to innovate that pilots are still flying FJ Holdens.

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& from Sandy...  


Alexander2 DAYS AGO



Flying for 52 yrs, in General Aviation (GA) with own aircraft and airport, as instructor, charter and scheduled services I’ve watched, with dismay, the ‘death by a thousand regulator cuts’ of what could have been a great Aussie industry. Safety has suffered, after the $billions of bureaucratic waste and mismanagement the industry and taxpayer should have seen definite improvements. In 30 years No.
Thousands have lost work by the closure of hundreds of flying schools and maintenance businesses, especially in the bush. Well done Nats! Irresponsible idiocy.

It’s not just GA either, every time you buy an airline ticket you pay a premium for the incompetence of CASA, ie Government, while the bloated numbers of CASA bureaucrats sit high on their wallets. More than 800 of them with great super, comfy offices, RDOs and plenty of O/S seminars or QLD junkets when it’s freezing in Can’tberra. The CEO paid $600,000, a lot more than the Minister, no wonder he’s subservient.

Extraordinarily if we go back to square one, would Australians still fly their light aircraft if CASA did not exist? Yes, with care and responsibility. Oddly the largely self regulating low weight category does just this quite well, and is about to get a weight increase thus putting paid to the notion that CASA is the be all and end all of flight.
The do nothing Minister is too frightened to take the slightest responsibility for the most sensible, modest and small amendment to the Civil Aviation Act. Bring Back Barnaby.

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Ted2 DAYS AGO


Well , it sounds like it’s time for Aviation as a whole to boycott all air travel by politicians and senior bureaucrats. It’s well past time that politicians and parliament started taking notice of the perilous state that CASA has placed the industry. After more than thirty years plus, they just don’t take any notice and just don’t seem to care.

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Mark2 DAYS AGO


I bought an aviation business ... I know ... But because I bought the business, not the company, CASA ruled that the Air Operators Certificate could not be transferred with the operations, staff, the aircraft, the procedures, etc. The AOC is attached to the old company shell and could have been bought by anyone else brave enough to buy a closet which may or may not be full of skeletons. It will take 6 months minimum to have a new application for an AOC approved. GA and airwork gets it in the neck time after time.

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Greta2 DAYS AGO


Most airports were built and paid for by the taxpayer and then handed over to the private sector or local authorities. 'Landing fees' are just another administrative belligerence none of us need. A whole regime of other fees have since surfaced too which used to be free in the past. Australia has unlimited potential to become the world's best training ground, but no, instead we are regulated out of the skies. Like many others, I walked away from GA years ago. 

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P2 in reply to Suzanne:


Suzanne2 DAYS AGO



Before resorting to following the ‘Pied Piper’, Dick Smith, in everything he says, it would pay to do a little bit of homework. ‘With their local council recently quadrupling their rent, soaring landing fees....’. There’s a hint there about where their true costs are coming from, neither of which have anything to do with CASA. It is also easy to blame the regulations for increasing costs and draw a parallel between this and the decline in the pilot training sector, but this ignores the fact that this is not an issue unique to Australia, this is a global phenomena. Increasing demand for pilots and a decline in those wanting to become pilots is also part of the problem. Is that also CASA’s fault? It may be convenient to sit back and blame CASA for the woes of the industry but the truth is that the industry has changed. This is not the industry of the 60’s, 70’s or even the 80’s. Is changing some wording in the Act really going to make a difference? And if so, how? Are you then at risk of placing CASA in a compromising position with its key role in regulating for aviation safety?

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Paul2 DAYS AGO


@Suzanne I read it differently. The industry has pressures from many fronts, one of which is CASA over regulating, so let's at least get that fixed.

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Sleepy Lizard2 DAYS AGO



Ok fair point , so you want hard facts , here’s a start.

CASA has held up the release of the Part 135 (air taxi) rules for over twenty years.

It was directed to do this by the government in 1999.

Why ? because a certain regional airline put pressure on successive CASA directors and the ministers responsible , in order to protect regional airlines from the perceived threat of small charter companies.

As a result charter operators are not allowed to sell flights per seat.

That’s unfair market manipulation and it was all done under the guise of safety.

Australia has a long and sad history of the big guy crushing the up and coming by using the regulator as its patsy.

It has happened since the beginning of aviation but got worse once the CAA became CASA.

It’s happening again right now in the drone industry.
It’s happening right now in the aviation training sector.

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Patrick2 DAYS AGO



@Suzanne  The same "compromising safety" position that our trading partners are in such as Canada, NZ and the US who operate with far less regulation than CASA.

This is also a trading issue. How can GA in Australia compete with our trade competitors who don't have operate with one hand tied behind their back.

Pilot training is a growth industry in countries that don't have McCormack and CASA to hold them back.

Level the playing field.

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Sleepy Lizard2 DAYS AGO



I’m renewing my CPL (Commercial Pilots License ), so I had to renew my ASIC (Aviation Security Identification Card) that allows me to walk on the tarmac near the plane, $240 thank you.

Pilots medical. $600 thanks very much.

That plus the maps and AIP subscriptions and I’m over $1000 before getting into an aircraft.

A young guy I was talking to said the full University course to be a pilot costs you $140,000 to $180,000.

Just so you you can get a job that doesnt even pay minimum wage. (Flight instructor/ charter pilot)

I wonder why there is a pilot shortage?

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Gilbert2 DAYS AGO


Michael McCormack seems to be the Invisible Man? A perfect deputy that says and does nothing apparently and has been flannelled by the CASA mandarins!

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Alexandra2 DAYS AGO



What a tragedy for Australia

- we have one of the largest land masses of any country in the world, among the most dispersed populations. The small planes sector connects people, generate and service business. (Over)Regulate drives the costs up and up - and the negative ripple effect is easy to see. Kills off a transport sector

- we used to have a reputation for the most skilled pilots in the world, a reputation born out of young people getting into planes, learning to fly and being able to clock up significant hours. Price that out of reach

- and fewer people will learn to fly, or spend the hours to become very skilled - ripple effect again

- at the commercial end of the spectrum - who wants to see overseas pilots sitting at the front of the Qantas, Virgin, jetstar Tiger fights? Give me a skilled Aussie any day. 

Wake up Liberal Nationals. 

What do you stand for??

---

James2 DAYS AGO


Incredibly poor decision by the Minister.  Anybody with even a modicum of involvement in general aviation in this country is well aware that the industry is being destroyed by CASA.  Many small operators, long term operators, flying schools and very experienced pilots are dropping out of the industry.  The attitude of CASA is not only overbearing but often vindictive.  Many in CASA are bureaucrats with no experience of aviation.  A significant number of mid level personnel are relatively recent migrants, particularly subcontinental and are nigh on impossible for industry to deal with.  Australia used to have a large number of pilots that were highly sought after by international airlines.  I have recently been advised by Australians working for international airlines that this source has now dried up and that Australia is now having to import pilots for our airlines.  A senior Australian Captain flying for a major SE Asian airline recently told me that the skill level of Australian pilots, generally because of their extensive light aircraft experience, had been outstanding.  It is of concern that on account of mindless bureaucracy, we will no longer have these guys and girls up the pointy end of our local aircraft.

P2 - In reply to Shane:


Shane2 DAYS AGO




Yup. The aviation industry exists solely for the aggrandizement of Dick.

Lucky the yokel idiot Joyce’s hands were removed from the levers.

---

Patrick2 DAYS AGO


@Shane  You love expensive over regulation do you? You need to compare regulations in Australia to those in Canada, NZ, USA. Australia is over regulated by "yokel idiots"

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James2 DAYS AGO


@Shane You obviously don't know anything about general aviation - or Dick Smith. Without sensible amendments, there won't be any general aviation in Australia...yet another industry moved overseas due to lack of vision.

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James2 DAYS AGO


@Shane So you apparently would be comfortable having fast-track Chinese or SE Asian trained pilots up front - like the pilot who headed the wrong way out of Sydney, or the one who dialed in the wrong runway in Perth, or the guy who told everybody to pray when an engine failed!  CASA blatantly allows these people to fly into and out of the country while methodically screwing the local industry.  For me, if I was in an A380 when its engine blew up leaving Singapore, I'll take a highly experienced Aussie up front.

---

Raymond2 DAYS AGO


@Shane You children and grandchildren will pay an expensive price for the kind of attitude you have expressed. Dick Smith and Barnaby Joyce are loyal Australians who are trying to do what is best for Australia's future.

Also in reply to the editor was this from Rudders...

To: editor <editor@theaustralian.com.au>

Dick Smith has been a tireless advocate over decades to get some
practical sense into the Aviation Bureaucracy, so that General
Aviation may prosper.

Alas, the entrenched mandarins in CASA have their own agenda even to
the point of trashing GOVERNMENT POLICY.

In 1997 the MInister and the Board adopted the new (FAA based)
Classifications of Operations Policy.  It was the 17 of April, not the
first, so it wasn't an  April Fools Day joke..

This would have given more freedoms and allowed for the more business
minded to seek those opportunities in the lighter end of Aviation.

And herein lies the problem.  CASA is a free floating Agency without
recourse or oversight.
No Minister has had the courage to pull it into line.

Those in CASA do what they do without hindrance and the
Australian Nation is very much the poorer for it, to tune of billions of
dollars in lost opportunities

And billions of dollars wasted on an avalanche of regulations , much
of which have nothing to do with "safety".

Thats why you see many country airfields these days with only a few
parked up aircraft and a fuel bowser with cobwebs.
And this is in the wide brown land where rapid transport is vital.

America , a continent the size of Australia has the most vibrant GA
industry in the world.
No reason why we should not be the same.

But we aren't ,...because of a rampant unaccountable bureaucracy.,
that has buried  the GA industry with ever  increasing paperwork and
outrageous costs.

The "Jobs and growth" mantra is pretty sick for GA, except for those
within the bureaucracy.

Sadly,since 2 decades ago it has been all down hill as the figures
quoted in your Editorial  show.

As an 'aviator for over 60 years I am saddened and disgusted that this
has been allowed  to occur through gross political neglect.

Within CASA there is corruption, cronyism and
criminality ( and I can prove it, as can  many others)

Under the guise of " Safety" anything can be done, and is, and CASA
has no over-sighting body to correct its deficiencies and poor
practices.

While regulatory change is sorely needed, how to change the culture of
those within CASA?

Until there is a serious JUDICIAL INQUIRY into the bureaucratic
shenanigans by CASA, where those in the GA industry have suffered and
their horror stories can be put out in the public domain NOTHING will
change.

CASA's Motto is , for ultimate 'safety' (which is an impossibility) is
"Safe Skies are Empty Skies"

And in Mike Borgelt reply to yesterday's Oz Flying article:

Crawford defends CASA Position on GA
[url=http://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/crawford-defends-casa-position-on-ga]27 Jul 2018
Acting Director of Aviation Safety defends CASA's position on general aviation. Read more

---

Mike Borgelt • 16 hours ago
Well that's it then. The aim is to destroy general aviation. When a government official denies something you can bet it is true. When the official and his deputy both say it, you can take it to the bank.

& fm Sandy:

Sandy Reith • 15 hours ago

Well done Hitch, right on the money. The whole of GA industry is on the skids, nothing but Government action can save what’s left of our once busy sector. Jobs and growth? Stop laughing, its too sad. 

As for Mr. Crawford’s total denial of any culpability I’m afraid this says to expect no understanding or relief from the regulator because it has no idea of the horrific mess that, single handedly, it has created. Malice aforethought wouldn’t be an unreasonable conclusion in many quarters, probably not correct but you have to ask why?

August the current deadline for full transition to the impossible Part 61. Watch the (few) remaining flying schools struggle or just give up. 

Free country? What happened to that? Only Parliament can stop the rot, ring, email or collar your local MP and state Senators if you want to help.

 

Finally from a de-identified email off one of the PAIN email chains, the following gives a disturbing insight how deeply entrenched the CASA Iron Ring are and how much little oversight and control the miniscule and Govt have over them (that's if he was remotely interested -   ):

..Just had a call from a guy I know in CASA who is in middle management. He said everyone from his level down knows about the problems with industry, but above that there is firm denial and an attitude prevails of ‘its industry’s problem’. Worse still is that he managed to be present when someone in the ‘Iron Ring’ started publicly bragging about recent events, and afterwards he was so upset by what he heard that he decided to give me a call...


...This member of the Iron Ring said that they were very pleased that they had convinced the minister to do nothing re reg reform and that all the noise is just industry complaining and that they had ‘beat GA'. This person then also bragged that the last DAS to try any reform was quickly punted by the Board, as this guy and his mates ‘had the Board on a string’.

My friend said that these guys had designed the current system and knew it better than anyone, so that the more complicated they made it, the more indispensable these people became and this made it harder for anyone to move them on. Further, any reform would show how badly they had done their job and make them accountable, and hence put their jobs and their superannuation in real jeopardy. My friend said that because all the members of this Iron Ring retire in about 5 years, they will firmly prevent the boat from being rocked until then.

My mate is so disheartened that he is now had enough and is actively trying to quit CASA, as he can’t take this crap anymore. Unfortunately for CASA this guy is sharp and has very respectable industry experience, and he knows what he’s doing...

---

Sandy reply...

As addressed,


Confirms all that has happened for the best part of thirty years. 

The disgraceful wasting of a good industry by the vested interests of a few hubristic and selfish individuals left to their own devices with no real oversight or direction save for the laughable ‘Statements of Expectations’ 

Sandy Reith

By the way while we are trolling miniscule 4G McD'Nothing's tweets, I noted that yesterday 4G met with one of the greatest exponents of aviation safety bureaucratic trough gorging known to Can'tberra:

Discussing options from the Expert Panel Report on Aviation Skills & Training to simpfly pathaways for our future generation of pilots and engineers. Greg Russell providing insight to the challenges facing our young aviators. #auspol

  
Hmm...maybe we should open up a caption competition for some of the miniscule's happy snaps -   

MTF...P2 

ps I think 4G needs to do a spell check before hitting the tweet button...

[Gobbledock]

P2;

Hmm...maybe we should open up a caption competition for some of the miniscule's happy snaps

Well, in the top pic the smile he is beaming and the handshake with the new Board Chair is the hardest and most vigorous thing the Miniscule has done all week! Poor possum must be exhausted. In the bottom pic he is sitting at the table looking like one of the Thunderbirds with that static blank stare, a look of bewilderment, daydreaming about overseas junkets and how to spend all that superannuation when he retires.

After the disappointment of the limp wristed Boyd I don’t hold a lot of faith in the new appointment. But time will tell and the IOS will be watching....

[Kharon]

About time?

Quotes, from the post – HERE.

"[Mr Whitehall] alleges his pilot’s licence was suspended by CASA in October without him being given the opportunity to defend himself or prove the accusations made by his neighbour were false."

“[By] reason of the publication of the matters complained of, (Mr Whitehall) has been injured in his credit, character, reputation and profession and has been brought into public disrepute, professional disrepute, scandal, odium and contempt,” the claim said.

Should Mr Whitehall ever be in need of ‘supporting’ evidence, he should contact Aunty Pru. We have, in the Bankstown Chronicles, one or perhaps a few more of CASA not only suspending licence without supporting evidence, without a chance for defence to be even offered before action and; with the delay in notification being ‘timed’, to suit purpose. When you add the lack of solid evidence and false witness, then the picture becomes amazingly clear.

Furthermore, we can offer additional evidence of the damage CASA has and continues, with impunity, without there being any recourse under law, without huge expense. Even if the ‘cash’ was available to fight the case through appeal and win compensation; the damage to reputation is almost unrecoverable.

S.O. Whitehall is not the first victim of blind embuggerance – let’s all of us try to make him the very last, in a long, weary, unemployed line.

Game on – if he wants to play.

Toot – toot..

[Peetwo]

While Rome burns Turdball & 4G McDo'Naut continue to fiddle - 

Reference Dick's thread: Albo's  pitch for the PM job

AA said: Above all, they're angry that negative politics is acting as a handbrake on national progress...This government needs to get its act together in the national interest..."

And from "K" -   :

Is there a Statesman living in Marrickville?

If ‘Albo’ had said something like the above, at Wagga, referring to CASA he would have the unstinting support of every person involved in aviation ‘on-side’. If the current, useless captive of the aviation embuggerance squad had said something like it – the industry would be dancing in the streets. ‘Albo’ has hit a very large nail, on its head, very hard. Bravo 

"The problem now is that the coalition has been infected by the toxic approach. It is divided. It is distracted. It's dysfunctional. It stumbles from one internal conflict to the next, unable to muster the unity of purpose required to deliver effective government."

A little imagination and a couple of word changes and there you have the aviation dilemma in a nutshell.

Putting Albo's pitch for the next Labor PM job aside, I wonder when the other elephant in the room, i.e. the internal wrangling within the Nats, will rear it's ugly head? Although only spectators I note that some of the current crop of do nothing Nats, led by 7D Chester, have piped up with threats of quitting the party and moving to the cross benches if Dutton happened to win the Liberal party leadership...  

Reference: https://www.news.com.au/national/politic...91bf05afdf

SURPRISE ROADBLOCK FOR ‘UNELECTABLE’ DUTTON

Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester has raised a surprising obstacle that could block Mr Dutton from claiming the top job.

According to ABC political editor Andrew Probyn, Mr Chester and some of his National Party colleagues believe Peter Dutton is “unelectable” in southern states.

Speaking on ABC News, Probyn said the Victorian MP and up to three other Nationals were willing to sit on the crossbench rather than have Mr Dutton as PM.

“We have a situation where Peter Dutton might snatch the numbers for the Liberal leadership, but not have the confidence of the house to remain prime minister. In a curious way in this context, Malcolm Turnbull’s saviour could be the National Party.”

Also from the House Hansard yesterday:

Labor does not stand up for the regions.

We proudly do.

Watch in full here: https://t.co/VD777gItaQ #auspol

---

[color=#274537][size=x-large]@M_McCormackMP on no confidence motion: We reject this motion outright. We’ve got confidence in the Prime Minister.

MORE: [size=xx-small]https://bit.ly/2MmEZkd  #QT

[color=#1f538d]
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina—Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Leader of The Nationals) (14:44): We reject this motion outright, Mr Speaker! We've got confidence in the Prime Minister.

But we know a few things about this opposition leader. We know that he stands for higher taxes. We know that he and his party stand for higher energy prices. And look at the sorry lot behind him! We've got the member for Watson. Let's not forget—people haven't got that short a memory not to recall what Labor stood for when it was in power. The member for Watson wanted to take the water rights, the irrigation rights, away from my farmers and away from farmers right throughout river communities in Australia. That's what he stood for.

And then we have the member for McMahon. Remember all of those boats? Look at the member for McMahon's face. His was the face that launched hundreds of ships. That's right—hundreds of ships! They came, and there were 55,000 people who arrived unauthorised. He was responsible for a lot of those. There were 1,200 deaths at sea, and that was tragic. There were 800 boats. Labor put more beds in detention centres than they ever put in hospitals.

Then we move along to the member for Port Adelaide.

Mr Brian Mitchell interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Lyons is warned.

[img=44x0]https://www.aph.gov.au/api/parliamentarian/219646/image[/img]Mr McCORMACK: What a sorry figure. He recently described the blackouts in South Australia which caused so much despair for businesses and families throughout South Australia as nothing more than 'a hiccup'.

Mr Brian Mitchell interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Lyons will leave under 94(a).
The member for Lyons then left the chamber.

[img=44x0]https://www.aph.gov.au/api/parliamentarian/219646/image[/img]Mr McCORMACK: Let's not forget the member for Rankin. He was the chief of staff for the member for Lilley, who stood at this very spot and said, 'The four years of surpluses I announce tonight.' Where are those four years of surpluses? That's why this nation is in so much trouble. It is because of the member for Lilley. Thank goodness he's still here, because every time we look at him we can remind ourselves of the debt and despair that Labor in six sorry years plunged this nation into.

Then we have the member for Shortland and the member for Hunter. They should listen more to the member for Paterson. She sounded them out recently. She did. She stuck up for coal workers. She stuck up for coalmines. She stuck up for coal-fired power stations. Good on you, Member for Paterson. Come over this way. We believe you. It's a shame the member for Shortland and the member for Hunter don't, because they don't stand up for coal workers. I tell you what—our people do. We stand up for coal workers and we stand up for all workers. That's what we do. That's why we are lowering the company tax rate. We are getting it down to 25 per cent. What does the member for Maribyrnong want to do? He wants to push it up well beyond 30 per cent. That's what Labor stand for. They don't stand up for workers. Look at the member for Maribyrnong's record—Chiquita Mushrooms and Cleanevent. He sold those union members out. Rest assured that, if he gets the opportunity as Prime Minister, he'll do it again.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

[img=44x0]https://www.aph.gov.au/api/parliamentarian/219646/image[/img]Mr McCORMACK: Don't you start, Member for Eden-Monaro. Why haven't you stood up? Why didn't you stand up for ships when Labor didn't build a ship? Not one ship did Labor build in six years. We are getting on with the job. We are spending billions on our defence program to make sure that our national security is what it ought to be. What did Labor do?
Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Eden-Monaro is warned.

[img=44x0]https://www.aph.gov.au/api/parliamentarian/219646/image[/img]Mr McCORMACK: They lowered the amount of spending on defence to its lowest level as a ratio to GDP since 1938. And we all know what happened in 1939. What else did Labor do? I'll tell you what they did—they shut down the live cattle trade to Indonesia. But did they tell Indonesia, one of our great trading partners? No, they didn't. They had to read about it in the media. Labor do not stand up for the regions. We proudly do. We are standing up for them at the moment. They are drought-stricken. I appreciate that that is a concern of all members of parliament, but we are standing up for those drought-stricken farmers. They must watch this debate and think—
Ms Owens interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Parramatta is warned.

[img=44x0]https://www.aph.gov.au/api/parliamentarian/219646/image[/img]Mr McCORMACK: 'What an unedifying spectacle that is.' They must think: 'Why are Labor carrying on like this? They should be standing up for the farming communities, standing up for workers, standing up for low energy costs and standing up for workers and families and all the things that are important to Australia.' But they are not. We are, and we will certainly continue to do that. We have got the back of the Prime Minister and the back of the Australian people.

Personally, after taking the mantle for Australia's greatest aviation disaster (AGAD), I say let 7D Chester fall on his sword. Reading between the lines I believe that 7D and 4G are desperately trying to subvert the possibility of a Dutton led Govt, as they know that would be the end of their tenure as ministers because IMO Barnaby would most likely do a Lazarus under a conservative Dutton Govt; and/or the Nationals vote will tank at the next election without Barnaby as the leader. With BJ as leader the Nats maybe able to save some of the furniture...   

 However the worst part about all this self-serving, self-flagellating, self-preserving political bollocks is the country continues to be run on bureaucratic auto-pilot, with little to no proper governance or oversight. In matters aeronautical, the likes of Dr A and the Iron Ring must be licking their lips and be totally secure in the belief that nothing will change and nobody will challenge their draconian tenure until at least the next election...   


MTF...P2 


Ps If you want further proof of a totally Iron Ring captured miniscule the following was a retweet from the CASA twitter guy yesterday which preceded 4G's tweets (above) yesterday:

Michael McCormack‏ @M_McCormackMP


Wing is currently trialling drone delivery with a focus on combining world leading technology with regulation to make sure packages are delivered safely.

And yes the coffee was still warm!

 Now remember that the Senate DW1 report has been tabled for three weeks - Senate Drone Inquiry report released. However miniscule McDo'Naut is yet to even acknowledge the Inquiry report, let alone indicate whether the Govt will be adopting the recommendations.

And on the disturbing findings of the ICAO wet lettuce audit report, it would appear that 4G is still waiting for his Dept to brief him on the proposed CAP (corrective action plan) - UDB!           
 

[Peetwo]

While the Turdball Govt implodes - 

First IMO for one of the more balanced media opinion pieces on the Liberal leadership crisis, from Joe Hildebrand...

The latest leadership spill proves one thing — democracy is dead in Australia
AUSTRALIA has become a “laughing stock”. Our democracy is dead, and its killers are now running the country.

Joe Hildebrand @Joe_Hildebrand

[img=0x0]https://i1.wp.com/pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/6b74663c53e8e8a6853769c3e70dc108?t_product=tcog&t_template=s3/ncatemp/authorBlock@2.0.0[/img]news.com.au AUGUST 22, 2018 6:31PM


What do you mean democracy is dead? Picture Kym SmithSource:News Corp Australia

AUSTRALIAN democracy is dead. The Labor Party killed it and the Liberal Party dug up the body and stomped on its bones.

Both our parliament and our parties have now descended into anarchic farce. And the carnage has been so mindless, the idiocy so virulent, that it can no longer be contained.

No matter what happens in the next days or weeks the Coalition is already headed off a cliff and the Labor Party has only managed to save its body by sacrificing its soul.

By the time the Liberal Party gets its next leader, be it Peter Dutton or a desperate rearguard action from Scott Morrison or Julie Bishop, they will be the seventh prime minister in 11 years. And just like that other 7-Eleven they got there by selling crap and dipping into workers’ back pockets.

One wit quipped that Australia was now just like Italy without the good food but that is too kind. We are more like the Middle East without the submachine guns or Central America without the CIA.

And yet of all these coups that have cost the nation a generation of good government, not one — not a single one — has been in pursuit of a genuine cause.


They have been the work not of true believers but party rats who roped millstones around the necks of their victims and then kicked them to the gallows for no other reason than that they could.


The first victim was of course Kevin Rudd, who once described action on climate change as “the greatest moral challenge of our time” only to later decide the challenge was so great it belonged in the too hard basket.


‘I’ll just sit at the back quietly.’ Picture Kym SmithSource:News Corp Australia

Mr Rudd was forced to dump his emissions trading scheme and tried to bring in a mining tax instead. He then got knifed by Julia Gillard, who had urged him to dump the emissions trading scheme, and Wayne Swan, who had urged him to bring in the mining tax.


Where else but Australia could a prime minister get executed by both his deputy and treasurer for the capital crime of following their advice.

Having killed off Mr Rudd’s carbon price, Ms Gillard then reinstated it in order to win power with the Greens, who had killed it off first.


This in turn paved the way for Mr Rudd to kill off Ms Gillard and her carbon price and replace it with his carbon price. However neither could save either from Tony Abbott, who had previously killed off Malcolm Turnbull for his carbon price.


For a country that doesn’t have a carbon price that price seems very high.


Labor thought they could play the public like a cheap TV hypnotist. Kevin Rudd was back again, the carbon tax was no more, asylum seekers were somewhere else, it was all just a dream …

But unfortunately for Labor the only dreams were Tony Abbott’s and they had all come true. In 2013 he romped home in a landslide victory not seen since, well, Kevin Rudd’s. And on the way through he famously promised almost everything under the sun: “No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.”


Mal’s big problem is he can’t tell a lie. Picture Kym SmithSource:News Corp Australia

It could be argued that Mr Abbott broke every single one of those promises but the latte left obsessed almost exclusively over the ones that affected their favourite TV shows.


More saliently, you would have to wonder why on earth Mr Abbott would bother to say such a thing when cuts to the ABC and SBS were precisely what his core supporters were hoping for.


Either way, that election eve pork barrel quickly became a barrel of lies. So much for the conviction politician. He also threw in a surprise tax hike for good measure, which set a lot of blue blood boiling.


But Mr Abbott did keep his three word promises. He stopped the boats and he axed the tax and they were the two things the Tory base cared about the most. So why was he rolled again?


Ah yes, because he wasn’t a very good communicator and he’d lost 30 Newspolls in a row. Doesn’t that seem the very definition of irony now.

At least in launching his own late night coup Mr Turnbull had the decency to admit the cause was purely cosmetic.


Indeed, Mr Turnbull’s Shakespearean flaw may well be that he seems incapable of telling a lie — which is probably why he waffles so much.

In the real world this is of course a great virtue but in politics it is a death sentence. Instead of constructing a compelling bullshit narrative of why it was vital for the party and the nation that he seize control, Mr Turnbull instead chewed on his spectacles while speculating that he would probably be a better spokesman for Tony Abbott’s policies than Mr Abbott himself.


That confidence has served Mr Turnbull well in his private pursuits but in public it is about as effective an armour as the emperor’s new clothes.


He confidently advocated for a republic in 1999 and got rolled, he confidently advocated for action on climate change in 2009 and got rolled and he confidently brought on the leadership spill in 2018 and … Well, watch this space.


But again, why is Mr Turnbull now subjected to a leadership coup? What principle is so noble and pure that it requires yet another prime ministerial assassination and the almost certain decimation of the Liberal Party?


Well gosh, let’s see. First it was that Mr Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg had crafted an energy policy that promised to lower electricity prices while at the same time meeting the international reduction targets Australia had signed up to in Paris and which had been overwhelmingly passed by the Coalition party room. Targets that Tony Abbott had endorsed. What a monster.


And so in an effort to placate his opponents, namely Tony Abbott, Mr Turnbull offered to pull the targets out of the legislation so that the government would no longer be bound by them.


But then those same Liberal opponents accused him of placating the Labor Party because the ALP would not be bound by the targets when they won government, which they were almost certain to do because his Liberal opponents wouldn’t let him get his targets up.


Cute.


Suddenly the only target in Malcolm Turnbull’s energy policy was on his own back.


This in itself should tell you everything you need to know about sacrificing your soul in politics. As soon as people know you’ll bend over for a pack of cigarettes everyone becomes a smoker.


And so now yet another prime minister is about to be rolled for no reason other than pure and brutish self-interest. This is what happens when our rulers rip up the rule book as they did in 2010 and have done in every single term of government since.


Our parliament has been reduced to the animalistic law of the prison yard. We have paved the way for government by vendetta.


The pretence of policy is, as we have seen, bullshit — although to describe it as such does discredit to bullshit itself. No cowpat has ever so cruelled democracy.


Nor is the current opposition exempt from the stench. Bill Shorten has knifed more leaders than anyone in the parliament and then tried to squib on being opposition leader because he assumed he himself would be knifed before he got a shot at the Lodge. Tragically, he was wrong.


The Greens are equally culpable. Had they supported Mr Rudd’s original emissions trading scheme in 2010 he would never have been rolled and Australia would have an ETS today. Instead they would rather protest endlessly into the void and send the planet they pretend to love into oblivion because nothing is ever perfect enough for their brain dead socialist utopia.

And of course One Nation are just brain dead full stop.


‘Everything is falling into place nicely. I’ll have knighthoods back in no time.’ Picture Kym SmithSource:News Corp Australia

There used to be a broad consensus about national interest in the parliament. Some things used to be bigger than party politics and personal ambition: The great economic reforms of the 1980s, the gun laws that made Port Arthur the last mass shooting on Australian soil, matters of foreign affairs, trade and national security. All of these were underpinned by wise men and women who understood that political fights belonged on the playing field, not in the stands.

Now that sensibility has been lost. Once respected institutions and conventions have been trashed by self-interested tribalists who behave like drunken teenagers at a house party. And for what?

Tragically, and amazingly, no one seems to ever think that far ahead. If Mr Dutton does indeed roll Mr Turnbull on his second strike what happens then?

The Libs hurtle into an election that they will still almost certainly lose, Mr Dutton will have to spend half his time trying to save his own seat, Mr Turnbull will quit altogether leaving another seat to be won and another leader torched, Ms Bishop will probably go as well costing massive political capital, Mr Morrison will sit in the wings waiting to roll Mr Dutton when his time comes around, Mr Abbott will be back in the ministry but soon back in opposition and of course he’s bound to be quiet as a mouse. So who’s going to be the next Liberal PM when all the smoke clears? Alan Tudge?

This would be dumb enough if it had never been done before and yet it has, time and time again, and the results are always disastrous. Oscar Wilde’s Lady Bracknell famously observed that to lose one parent was a misfortune and to lose two looked like carelessness.

What would she say about four prime ministers?

The power players in politics these days are like dogs chasing a car.

They love the excitement but not one of them has any idea what to do if they actually catch it. But when it comes to the fragile fabric of democracy itself they are more like a gorilla playing with a matchstick man. No wonder ever more voters are fleeing to the volatile extremes that will only fuel the firestorm.

Meanwhile all these honourable members who pretend to love our country so much have turned Australia into an international laughing stock. The only people not laughing are us.

As a closer, here is a fun fact: If Malcolm Turnbull survives for just one more month he will become the longest serving prime minister Australia has had in more than a decade. Just think about that.
And now think about the fact that he may not survive a week, let alone a month. This means that in not one of the last four elections has the elected prime minister served a full term. And in not one of the last four elections has a party kept the promises it made when it went to the people.

Or of course the Turnbull camp could call a snap poll and bring the whole thing crashing down just to spite their enemies.
Either way, that is not democracy. Democracy is dead. And its killers are running the country.

Meanwhile over in Mandarin & Minion central...  

Via the Mandarin: 

APS in de facto caretaker mode as speculation swirls over secretaries
By Verona Burgess • 22/08/2018

[img=565x0]https://www.themandarin.com.au/content/uploads/2017/03/martin_parkinson_hero_opt-2.jpg[/img]

A Dutton government could shake the earth under the APS given his right-wing ideology; a Morrison or other middle-of-the-road challenger’s government less so, says Verona Burgess.

Once more, the Australian Public Service enters a de facto caretaker mode as another government tears itself apart.

Tawdry doesn’t begin to describe it.

With major policy vacuums now occurring in energy, tax, education and a slew of other areas, government is heading for a prolonged holding pattern (pattern being a generous description), whatever happens to Malcolm Turnbull, as early as today.

This means the public service will be effectively running the country for the next couple of months at least, even if an early election does not eventuate. If an early election is called, then don’t expect much truly substantial policy development until the new year.

At the time of writing, Turnbull is almost history, the pretender Peter Dutton is on the nose everywhere except Queensland, a compromise candidate has yet to be firmed up (though the money seems to be on Treasurer Scott Morrison), and Bill Shorten is chortling. But a day is a long time in politics.

A Dutton government, however short-lived, could shake the earth under the APS given his right-wing ideology; a Morrison or other middle-of-the-road challenger’s government less so.

All eyes on two top secretaries

As Tom Burton has suggested, in a Dutton government eyes would first turn to the secretaries of the departments of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson, and Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo.

[img=0x0]https://www.themandarin.com.au/content/uploads/2016/05/michael-pezzullo-estimates-300x168.jpg[/img]
Michael Pezzullo

[size=undefined]
Whether Dutton would take Pezzullo with him and remove Parkinson (pictured above) is the big question. If he picked someone else for PM&C, Pezzullo might at last get the nod for Defence.

It is convention for the secretary of PM&C to offer his (or her, but there hasn’t been one yet) resignation to an incoming prime minister after an election or, these days more commonly, a coup. Usually, they stay on for a few months or so to help settle in the new lot before departing politely, making way for the new PM’s personal choice.

With Dutton as PM, that period of grace would be unlikely for Parkinson, since puppet-master Tony Abbott originally sacked him from Treasury, apparently for the perceived sin of believing in climate change or at least for having administered the then climate change department.

Under the Public Service Act, it is the prime minister, not the portfolio ministers (who don’t even have to be consulted) who decides on secretarial appointments.

“Either way, the review of the APS being chaired by David Thodey might run out of puff or become quite a different beast, since it was largely a Parkinson initiative.”

With a middle candidate, Parkinson’s future is less certain. Morrison or another dark horse might (wisely) opt for a transition period for the sake of stable administration.

Either way, the review of the APS being chaired by David Thodey might run out of puff or become quite a different beast, since it was largely a Parkinson initiative.

Whether Parkinson’s spouse, Heather Smith, would survive as Industry secretary is another issue, even though the pair being married should have no bearing.

The Industry minister’s job is currently being seat-warmed by Michaelia Cash, who is running both it and the Jobs department in a super-portfolio while Arthur Sinodinos is being treated for cancer.
Splitting that super-portfolio back into its two parts would be sensible, whoever is PM,  and relatively easy, but this is hardly the time for major machinery of government changes.

Riddle over Treasury’s new man

Meanwhile, the new Treasury secretary Phil Gaetjens, who only started on August 1, might be rubbing his hands with glee – or else wondering whether he would have been better off sticking to the appointment as ambassador to the OECD in Paris that had been announced less than a month before his sudden elevation to Treasury.[/size][img=0x0]https://www.themandarin.com.au/content/uploads/2018/07/Philip-Gaetjens-portrait-162x300.png[/img]
[size=undefined]
Gaetjens is, of course, a former long-term Liberal staffer as well as a former Treasury official, but his political associations are on the damper side of the party as a former chief of staff to Peter Costello and Morrison and a secretary to the NSW Treasury under two wet premiers, Barry O’Farrell and Mike Baird.

Realistically, Gaetjens, unless elevated to PM&C under Morrison, would probably stay put at Treasury – at least until the election when, in the event of a Labor win, Chris Bowen would probably get rid of him.

A Tony Abbott Defence ministry might put a question mark over the tenure of secretary Greg Moriarty, a career diplomat who was appointed straight out of Turnbull’s office in 2017 after a short stint as chief of staff.

Greg Hunt, expected to be Dutton’s running mate according to those in the know, is said to want Foreign Affairs.

Foreign Affairs secretary Frances Adamson was also appointed straight out of Turnbull’s office after a short stint there as international adviser, but she was a shoo-in for the job anyway, and it’s hard to imagine her being removed by anyone with any brains.

Were Dutton to put a hard-right climate change denier into Environment, there might be uncertainty over the future of secretary Finn Pratt (who, by the way, is an excellent career public servant) given his role as secretary in advising on the effectively imploded National Energy Guarantee.

Whoever goes into Education, if that minister changes, might also want someone new given the row over Catholic school funding.

The best thing that any incoming prime minister can do is to keep all the secretaries in place until the government settles down. Not, of course, that that’s any guide.

Recently departed Treasury secretary John Fraser must be glad he’s left it all behind.  Guess he knew what he was doing.

You would not blame any department secretaries who decided that they just didn’t want to keep working for such dreadful people. But someone has to keep the show on the road, and that’s the job of the APS.[/size]

 
Looks like by the end of the day we will have a Dutton led Coalition Govt - so come on 7D Chester money where your mouth is mate??...
MTF...P2 

[Gobbledock]

AUSTRALIA IMPLODING

Straight out of the dictionary;
politician
pɒlɪˈtɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
1. a person who acts in a manipulative and devious way, typically to gain advancement within an organization.

The antics of the past 10 political years have and are damaging our once incredible nation. The elected imbecile’s are not only an embarrassment but they have proven that they are not skilled, adaptable, qualified or knowledgeable enough to govern a nation.

What the Pollywafflers don’t fully realise is that there is a mass awakening taking place. Finally people are waking up to the fact that these aresholes are ruining our lives. Some of the not-so-highlights of successive incompetence;
- Billions in aid being given to corrupt third world countries so that individual politicians can buy there way onto the UN Council.
- Hundreds of billions spent on the crooked military industrial complex.
- Our pensioners, young job seekers, farmers and business battlers are committing suicide because they can’t get help from a government who supports dictatorships, the Wall Street bankers, Clinton foundation, the UN and pretty much everywhere else but their own backyard.
- Inflation, low wages, ripoffs by oil suppliers, electricity providers, the ATO, and local and state governments in taxes, taxes and more taxes has pushed people to the edge.
- Generous Government handouts, incentives and payoffs to the big banks and corporate businesses while the little bloke gets overtaxed and has his arse reamed.
- Big brother antics including speed cameras, CCTV surveillance, excessive laws and regulations, internet censorship and monitoring you when you take a shit is out of control. People are being oppressed.
- Politicians living in a Can’tberra bubble and earning excessive salaries with generous benefits that only they are entitled to, mixed with their personal businesses that net them millions per year and then corporations that hire them (rewards and payoffs) after their life in politics. These Pollywafflers don’t mix with, understand or appreciate the lower socio status of the 99% of the rest of our nation, the normal people.
- The continual political instability in which these arseholes spend their waking moments trying to further their own egotistical agendas while the country slips further down the sewerage pipe.

I for one would not shed a single tear or blink an eyelid if there was a fully fledged uprising of the masses and governance was taken back in to the people’s hands. People have fucking had enough of these self-serving, dishonest, greedy and incompetent grubs......

[Peetwo]

Through the looking glass of a Shorten led Labor Govt - 

While we are waiting, perhaps an insight into what we have to look forward to..

Via the AFR:

You think the Coalition is bad? Look at Labor's policies


Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is proposing policies that work against ambition. Alex Ellinghausen
by Sinclair Davidson

Politics in a stable democracy should be boring, even relaxed and comfortable. Yet since the fall of the Howard government in 2007 Australian politics has been exciting– almost a blood sport. The population is certainly not relaxed nor comfortable. Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister appeared well on his way to changing all that. Re-election looked possible, even likely.

The shenanigans in Canberra now suggest the next prime minister will have a short tenure before Bill Shorten becomes prime minister. Ordinarily a change in government can be a good thing. Every now and again you have to throw the bastards out and give the other mob a go. Unfortunately we can't throw them all out at the same time.

Yet that might not be the case at the coming election. Despite the Labor Party having, on paper, a formidable economics team some of their attitudes and tax policy ideas require some very careful analysis and scrutiny. The downside of 27 years of continuous economic growth is policy complacency.

For many Australians, the economy will just keep growing no matter what economic silliness emanates from Canberra.

Taxation is no longer seen as a necessary evil to finance public services – and a lot more besides – but rather as a punishment. Regulation, too, is seen as punishment for poor behaviour. In this age of "social licence to operate" it seems there are many industries and people in need of punishment. But regulation and taxation impose costs on the economy that ultimately must be borne by someone. Very often those who bear the costs of regulation and taxation are poor and the more vulnerable members of society.

Poor policy

We are going to hear a lot about inequality over the next while. To be clear: inequality is more of a political problem than an economic problem. It becomes an economic problem when policies designed to reduce inequality lead to poor economic policy.

This will very quickly become apparent as Labor further re-regulates the labour market. To argue, as Australian Council of Trade Unions boss Sally McManus does, that our current industrial relations system introduced by the last Labor government is inadequate to protect workers from big business completely misses the point: big business itself is being disrupted by technological change.

As Australia transforms from a financial and physical capital-dominated economy to a human capital-dominated economy it makes no sense to lock in antiquated 19th-century notions of class warfare where unionism empowers the weak against the strong. This will simply benefit entrenched interests and disadvantage the young and entrepreneurial. The so-called gig economy is not a conspiracy against workers, it is an opportunity to work for many otherwise unemployed people.

Take, for example, company tax rates. When last in office Labor had a policy of reducing company tax rates. Then they recognised the positive impact this would have on economic growth and employment. Now, in opposition, reducing company tax rates is a give-away to the top end of town. Hopefully Labor will rediscover the benefits of company tax cuts when back in office.

The idea of reintroducing double taxation on company dividends is particularly poor. Double taxation distorts both financing and investment decisions. While somewhat complex, the dividend imputation system introduced by the Hawke-Keating government was an excellent reform that Labor should be championing not dumping.

Then there is the idea of tinkering with negative gearing. All sorts of ideas have been floated here – having a cap on the number of properties, or grandfathering existing properties, and what not. Somehow many people have become fixated on the notion that tinkering with the tax system will make housing "more affordable". That somehow the tax system is to blame for high housing prices.

Why has nobody thought of blaming low interest rates for high prices? Has nobody in Canberra realised that high prices could be a market signal to increase supply?

Too much tinkering

The fact is that being a landlord is one of the few small-business opportunities available to thousands of Australians on middle incomes. People who work at day jobs – schoolteachers, police, nurses and the like – and want to save and invest a bit more for their retirement or kids and don't want to do so through the superannuation system. A system itself subject to far too much tinkering over the years.

Too many of Labor's current policies look like they're out to punish ambition and/or self-funded retirees. Whether they get to implement these policies will depend on the makeup of the Senate.

The issue well worth exploring, however, is how and why we have got to this situation.

Since 2013 Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey have held the levers of power and occupied the bully pulpit. Yet in that time none of them has made a serious coherent argument for small government with low taxes and reduced regulation. Rather we have heard of tax rorts, fair shares, base erosion, cry-me-a-river, and they make no apology. That's all very nice, yet there is now no reason for the electorate to fear a Labor government that will also increase taxes, and bring in new levies, and regulate industries that have fallen out of favour.

It will be government as usual after the next election.

Sinclair Davidson is an economist at RMIT University, an adjunct fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, and an academic fellow at the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance.

AFR Contributor

 

MTF...P2 

[Peetwo]

Through the looking glass of a ScoMo led coalition Govt?    

In the wash-up of the Can'tberra bollocks yesterday, I note that our NFI miniscule 4G was quick to congratulate ScoMo on his becoming the 30th PM:

I congratulate @ScottMorrisonMP and @JoshFrydenberg on their election as Leader and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.

This was my reply to 4G and plea to ScoMo...

RT #aupol #auspol #avgeek - Please ScoMo for the good of a vital Australian industry appoint a junior minister for aviation and get behind changing the @CASABriefing Civil Aviation Act @AlboMP @AuSenate @Senator_Patrick

https://twitter.com/PAIN_NET1/status/103...1864723456

The worst thing is that despite what happens today the long suffering GA industry will be still stuck with the same 'do nothing' @The_Nationals @M_McCormackMP dross in charge of over sighting the bureaucratic embuggerance of the industry: http://auntypru.com/what-will-the-line-stretch-out-to-th-crack-of-doom/ … #avgeek #aupol

 
Finally on the Viva La Revolution front...

The Canberra political nonsense has to end for all our sakes

POLITICIANS play by their own rules - not ours - and as disgraceful as that is, now is not the time to look away.
Chris Urquhart
news.com.auAUGUST 25, 20188:25AM

• Video
  
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison and deputy Liberal leader Josh Frydenberg are the latest victors in Australia’s messy and chaotic changes at the highest levels of government.Source:AFP

IF you don’t show up to vote in Australia on Election Day, you can expect to get a fine in the mail. Voting in this country is compulsory.

But politicians listening to voters? Apparently that’s voluntary.

What we’ve learnt these past few years, culminating with this week’s leadership spill, is that in Australia the rules that the rest of us have to live by don’t seem to apply to politicians.

That they haven’t lived up to their side of the bargain has led to the diminishing of our faith, not just in our political parties, but in our political institutions and the system as a whole. It’s taken us to a dangerous place, where people shrug their shoulders and have given up caring, when really, we should care more than ever before.

Australians are sick of leadership spills, but our dissatisfaction runs deeper than that. We’re sick of the whole political game. Because although it’s a game for the politicians — tallying numbers like a scoreboard at the footy – for the rest of us, real life goes on.

Farmers suffering through drought? That’s real life, not a game.

Pensioners shivering through winter because they’re terrified of their heating bill for using their heater? That’s real life, not a game.


Governor General Peter Cosgrove congratulates new Prime Minister Scott Morrison (L) after the swearing in ceremony.Source:AFP

Young people who’ll never afford a home in a major city? That’s real, too.

P2 - What about the small end aviation industry and small businesses, that are slowly but surely being red tape strangled by the Iron Ring led aviation bureaucracy; or small minded Local Councils hell bent on fleecing aviators and airport lessees that are bringing business to the regional cities and towns??   

This week’s leadership spill is only the latest chapter in our recent political history where we’ve seen that the real-life consequences experienced by the rest of us just don’t apply to politicians.

This past year, 15 members of parliament either resigned or were ruled ineligible by the High Court because they didn’t follow the rules and had failed to renounce their foreign citizenships. Not one or two. Fifteen. Careless with their paperwork and responsibility, they were still paid for the time they sat in Parliament without legitimacy. They didn’t have to pay back a cent. Their ineptitude cost us millions in by-elections and High Court hearings.

Ask someone who’s had their Centrelink payments overpaid how eagerly the government claws it back. Every last dollar and all the cents too. One rule for politicians, another rule for everyone else.

In June, politicians got a pay rise taking their base salaries to just under $200,000. It kicked in the same day that penalty rates were cut. Regular workers haven’t seen wage growth in years. One rule for politicians, another rule for everyone else.

But it’s not just unfairness and inequality that has politicians on the nose.


Malcolm Turnbull gives his final media conference as Prime Minister. Picture: Sean DaveySource:News Corp Australia

The broken system that they can take advantage of is a huge part of the problem.

Look at the Senate. At the ballot box, we’re handed papers so enormous and confusing they can’t possibly be read. Out of confusion, most people just put a “1” above the line and hope for the best, their votes decided by party preference deals.

Senators get voted in on party tickets, and then switch parties anyway. Cory Bernardi made sure he was on the Liberals ticket in 2016. Once in, he served briefly as an independent, before starting his own party, Australian Conservatives. No one has ever voted for this party in the Senate, yet it has its own Senator. Five other senators have also switched parties after being elected and there’s nothing we can do.

How is that fair?

In the House of Representatives, we’ve become used to the leadership spills that decide who’ll be the prime minister. Never mind who was the leader at the election, they’ll change their minds on a whim anyway. New leaders bring new policies, of course. These days, we never get what we were originally sold. If a small business does that to a customer, they end up at consumer affairs. Again, its one rule for politicians, another rule for everyone else.

Friday’s vote didn’t resolve the leadership issue, it just spat out another prime minister to hold the fort until the next one. We know that by now.

The same politicians and commentators who circled the ousted Malcolm Turnbull will circle Scott Morrison. They won’t think twice about it.


Tony Abbott played a key role in the downfall of Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: Ray StrangeSource:News Corp Australia

And even if he isn’t torn down before an election, neither he, nor a Labor leader either, can promise with any real conviction that they’ll deliver the policies they offer to us. We’re used to a system now where trust has been obliterated. We’ve seen the switch played on us time and time again. For them it's a game, for us it’s real life.

If there is one positive of this week, and these years of chaos, it’s that we can better see their true colours. We see our leaders standing beside a friend one day who they’ll throw to the wolves the next, for their own self-interest, vanity, ego or narcissism. We know now they will only pull the knife from the back of one colleague to plunge it into another. They couldn’t be more disingenuous, they couldn’t be more disloyal. If they’re disloyal to friends, what chance do we have of them being loyal to us? Our job now, having been scorned so frequently, is not to shrug our shoulders and look away, but to look closer.

“We’ve all got to live by the rules in this country,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in his first press conference yesterday.

We live by the rules, but all too frequently, he and his colleagues don’t.
The first step to mending the system, will be politicians showing us they can live by them too. They’ll be judged by their actions, not by their words.

Chris Urquhart is a freelance journalist. Follow him on Twitter: @chrisurquhart

MTF...P2 

[Kharon]

Things that make you go Hmmm.

What odds that the very first ‘sit-down’ of the new first XI in Canberra will run along the lines of – ‘what must we be seen to be doing to win the next election’. It seems to be the first and last thing those in the house of reptiles and reprobates consider. So, perhaps, maybe there is a tiny chance aviation may actually get some attention.

When you consider the entire industry, the money invested and the jobs created, it is a huge pool of potential voters across this wide brown land. Each and every person and dollar is affected by the manner in which aviation is managed, regulated and restricted. That adds up to a lot of dollars and much political sense.

There is an old industry adage; I ain’t sure it’s true, but it seems to hold water – If you give a passenger a seamless travel experience, they may sing your praises to one or two people; but, give ‘em a rotten ride and they will, every year, tell at least ten other folk about it. You can test this at BBQ or dinner party, try it. Everyone remembers the ‘worst’ event and can’t wait to tell you of it. (Yawn).

You don’t need to be a smart politician to work out that almost everyone involved and employed in aviation has an extended family and circle of friends. They, like the disgruntled passenger will talk and influence those who know ‘em. So when a thousand or so pilots say the system is buggered and the minister will not bring in the desperately needed changes, that minister and by default his party, are tarred with the same brush. That, boys and girls is a lot of potential voters who will remember that the current incumbent is bloody useless. Would you vote for a party that can’t seem to manage a simple change for the betterment of an industry which pays many mortgages, feeds and clothes many children etc?

Be buggered if I would and I’ll make certain, no one I know does either. So minister, will ye piss in the pot or get off it?

Another instance of key board abuse – all for naught. But it is a free country and you can, provided you are far enough away from an aerodrome, still drink the water.

Toot – toot.

[Peetwo]

The industry has "acquired institutionalised ostrichitis syndrome" (AIOS).

4G McDo'Naut and the black kettle, pot?? -   

Speaking of abuse, keyboards and shaming useless, self-serving, NFI Nat miniscules - that are all seemingly completely infected with "acquired institutionalised ostrichitis syndrome" (AIOS) on matters aviation - it would appear that miniscule 4G McDo'Naut, in an apparent attempt to water the accusations of duplicity of the MKIII Coalition Govt, has taken to his very own keyboard abuse...  

Via Farm Online...  :

McCormack: We can manage foreign aid and drought relief
25 Aug 2018, 5:20 p.m.
News

---

Baa, baa Wagga sheep, have you any brains-


Yes Sir, yes Sir, three thimbles full;



Two for re-election, half for my claims:


And a half one for aviation- a’goin down the drain.


 Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Nationals, Michael McCormack.

---

RECENT social media debate has questioned whether the federal government is investing enough taxpayer dollars into providing drought support for Australian farmers, compared to foreign aid.


However, this is an overly simplistic and disingenuous contrast and it’s also misleading to say the government is more interested in helping foreigners than our farmers.


Such errant commentary ignores the fact we can and we do manage both commitments responsibly – in other words we can walk and chew gum – to achieve mutually-beneficial social and economic outcomes on both fronts.


It also exploits naivety about the way the federal budgets works because money for drought support is not taken directly from the foreign aid budget and vice versa.


We should also try to rise above this type of simplistic commentary with a greater level of sensitivity and compassion at a time when farming communities are doing it extremely tough.


Think before you click and consider if your comments are only feeding more misleading information into cyberspace, to gratify click-bait hungry key-board warriors, or are you doing something constructive and tangible, to help our farmers and farming communities survive this tough and prolonged dry spell?



"Think before you click and consider if your comments are only feeding more misleading information into cyberspace."



One of the best practical ideas promoted during this challenging time has been the call to encourage people to take their next holiday, a weekend break or a day trip out into a regional community to help boost local businesses and communities, by spending local.


According to a new survey by the NSW Business Chamber, 84 per cent of businesses in regional NSW have been negatively affected by the State’s crippling drought with cash-flow impacted adversely.


With that real-life dilemma in mind happening right now in regional Australia, why not use the internet as a source of inspiration to share practical guidance?


Click and research the location of a country hotel, art studio, museum, cool coffee shop, or family friendly country pub to eat lunch or dinner in a town where the drought may be biting hard, to help keep the wheels of commerce turning during this tough time.


Instead of clicking and posting a wayward comment on Facebook contributing to an emotive and circular debate about government funding for farmers v foreigners which leads nowhere, why not post a map directing friends towards the best places to visit and spend money in regions doing it tough with the dry?


Another great idea which can benefit drought stricken communities now and into the future is the call to buy Australian made farm produce.


This type of pragmatic backing also underpinned and motivated our government’s announcement at the weekend of a third round of drought support measures, to boost our overall contribution to $1.8 billion.


It’s interesting to note the Liberals and Nationals government has added another $1.8 billion in drought support, on top of existing measures such as adjustments to the Farm Household Allowance and Farm Management Deposits schemes – but at the same time we’ve reduced the upward trajectory of foreign aid spending which would have continued to spiral under Labor’s risky and big spending, high taxing agenda.


At the end of the last Labor Government, the foreign aid budget was $5.7 billion (for 2013-14) and the forward estimates trajectory would have increased this to $8.5 billion in four years (by 2017-18).


However, under the Liberals and Nationals Government, we’ve managed to control the overall spending direction with our aid budget now $4.2 billion.
It should also be reiterated our foreign aid program is only 0.8pc of the federal budget.


Australia’s national interest is also served through our contribution to foreign aid programs, as other wealthy nations do, as it helps strengthen the economies of developing countries in our region which subsequently become important markets for Australian exports, like agriculture.


Our government’s responsible economic management means we have greater capacity to go out and listen to farming communities struggling with drought and assess their needs and subsequently deliver more appropriate, timely, fine-tuned and flexible support measures, such as those we announced last weekend.


Australia has a great story to tell about our farmers and we need to ensure we do what we can to support and protect them now, more than ever. 


- Michael McCormack is the Deputy Prime Minister, leader of the Nationals and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport

(P2 - Edited for double spaces for plenty of keyboard warrior reply commentary -   )

Hmmm...anyone else see the irony of the miniscule's 'precious' article when you consider this Guardian article?

Michael McCormack distances himself from editorial backing death penalty
The new deputy PM – a former journalist – also used articles to brand himself ‘homophobic’ and mock women’s sport...




In other editorials, McCormack also argued against laws that would have opposed gay hate, and backed his initial column against “sordid homosexuality”.

Despite immediately receiving dozens of complaints from readers and gay rights groups, his next column was titled: “I’m not sorry, why should I be?”

“I have no pangs of guilt for telling the truth about what gays are doing to the world and the decent people who live in it,” he wrote. “I’ve been labelled homophobic by some of the many people who have been moved to write letters.

“Well if homophobic can be taken as an intense fear of homosexuals then that’s fine, call me homophobic ... If something isn’t done and done quickly to prevent homosexuals getting rights they don’t deserve then God help us.”

 

MTF? Yes, MUCH!...P2 

[Kharon]

More ‘G’s?  Absolutely.

4G is now obsolete – we are obliged, - by popular demand, to add Glib and Grandiloquent to the honorific:- McCormack 6G emerges.

P2 – “Hmmm...anyone else see the irony of the miniscule's 'precious' article when you consider this Guardian article?”

“The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

When a man tells you how genuinely interested he is, four times in as many minutes, in the problems your industry faces, then buggers off without staying to actually listen to the solutions offered; well, it is indeed time to ‘count the spoons’. The editorials from the McCormack bombast are an edifying insight to a character which could be construed as ‘shallow’. Read some of the words he published, then compare them to the words which pour out now and draw your own conclusions. IMO - Even the hypocrisy ain’t genuine.

“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”

Aye,  methinks there is no need for double spaces there P2 – the man has said more than enough to reveal exactly what we are dealing with.

“Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.”

Selah.