I’ll see your rant and raise you a ramble….. 
Nothing wrong with a Sunday bark, plenty to bark at. But I reckon a Choc frog post from Pete – sums the situation up very neatly. But how to get the message through, that is the question.
The Senate committee are making it perfectly clear that there must be ‘reform’ across the board and they are not what may be described as a light weight; lots of clout there. When you add up the time, effort, and diligence the SEC have poured, unstintingly into trying to have the demanded changes made, I believe you will find it’s quite a large contribution. Result = little to no change visible on any subject tackled, perhaps behind the scenes, but not too much in the public arena.
The Forsyth report made it perfectly clear that there must be ‘reform’ across the board. That was government sponsored and no light weight; lots of clout there. When you add up the time, effort, and diligence the Rev. Forsyth and crew poured, unstintingly, into their demand for changes to be made, I believe you will find it’s quite a large contribution. Result = little to no change visible on any subject tackled, perhaps behind the scenes, but not too much in the public arena.
The Alphabet groups are making it perfectly clear that there must be ‘reform’ across the board and they are not what may be described as a light weight; lots of clout there. When you add up the time, effort, and diligence the various ‘groups’ have poured, unstintingly into trying to have the demanded changes made, I believe you will find it’s quite a large contribution. Result = little to no change visible on any subject tackled, perhaps behind the scenes, but not too much in the public arena. But you may notice an old, tried and tested method of diffusing opposition hard at work – exemption and concession to various groups which silence the voices of dissent one by one, until there is only a noisy minority group or two left, who may safely be ignored and branded the Ills of Society.
There is only, with a few outstanding exceptions, a very timid, uneducated media which is terrified of loosing advertising dollars and scared witless by threat of legal action. Our very own Ben Sandilands (legend) can attest to the reality of that power which can and will be used against any insolent reporter who dares ‘tell it like it is’.
Then there are people: Mums, Dads who have probably enough troubles of their own to be worrying overly much about the industry, it’s technical problems or even their own safety. The myth of Australian air safety is alive, well and living in your lounge room. Safety is not a penetrating weapon, just a well entrenched myth. The public believe all is well, the government says it is so and the public, quite rightly believe it. But that’s down to industry expertise, skill and dedication despite the inaction of the likes of Truss. But guess who gets the credit, the bonuses and the kudos; that’s right: the morons perpetuating the myth and forcing things like 145 and 61 onto industry (then having the hide to ask us to fix it). The UFB part is industry does, instead of sending ‘them’ home with a flea in their ear and the words – ‘YOU fix it, don’t come back until you have’ – stamped on their collective rumps.
So, what does that leave industry left to fight back with? Dick, like him or not, has in the space of a few short weeks, managed to get some real pressure on the government, where it hurts i.e. voter land and the minister. If you can step around the ‘subject’ matter, ignore whatever topics Dick is espousing you can see the brilliance of the strategy. Dick is a recognised aviation figure, the message he is delivering has sod all to with airspace or part 61 or the unholy mess the administration is in, nor the millions wasted. People will not remember any of that. Just a simple message, writ large and said often:-
Dick Smith says “Aviation is unsafe, Warren Truss will not act”.
What will the voting public remember of Dick’s rhetoric? – only that; and, we must hope that is enough to get the pressure flowing down from the top, not up from below. For it’s all we have at the moment.
