Senate Estimates. - Printable Version

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - P7_TOM - 05-29-2018

GD _ “What’s next - perhaps we will find out that Barry O’bese has business interests with ‘I. Ron Bar and Herr R. Collins??”

But, but GD – that would take the connection back to Lockhart River; surely not – but wait. What’s this I see before me – a connection? No, can’t be; and yet.............!

Best get two in Son, P2 will want the research done before that man ‘Iggins fires the second ranging shot. What’s the rule – one under, one over and then, one fair up Khyber? Something like that rings a little bell.

Bravo that man Iggins (and his editors, lawyers and research team) Choc frogs all around.

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 05-31-2018

O'Obfuscation and APCM disconnection - 

Just a couple of points on the BO statements in that article:   

BO -"...said his shareholding in APCM was a legacy of a claims-adjustment investigation business dealing with aviation accidents that he had run up until about 2008..."

Yet here BO was making this comment from the 11 October 2010 ETB travel news article (see link above): 

"..APCM Director Barry O’Sullivan said people are not aware that they are able to seek compensation without physical injury..."

And here BO was declaring donations to the QLD Electoral Commission, on behalf of APCM to the newly minted QLD LNP in March and August 2009:

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Next little discrepancy was when BO said:

"...Senator O’Sullivan yesterday said that after inquiries from The Australian, he had determined one of his family companies had had a 50 per cent shareholding in Asia Pacific Claims Management, which was registered on the Australian Business Register from September 2014 to November 2017..."

Yet off the ASIC record two of BO's declared Family Companies would appear at one time to have held a combined total of 90% shareholding in APCM Corporation PTY LTD:

Quote:

 
Oh well I'm sure BO has a plausible explanation - 
MTF...P2 

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Kharon - 05-31-2018

My Oath.

“There is no difference in legal force between an oath and an affirmation. The basic difference is that oaths conclude with the phrase ‘So help me God!’ while those making an affirmation are required to  solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare.”

You can, quickly and easily find many examples of an Oath or a ‘Plight’. Folks have been doing it for donkey’s years now, since pagan times, in all walks of life. It is a fine principal, however, despite the words spoken aloud, in front of witness it still boils down to a matter of conscience and personal integrity. Back in the day, when men of good will were actually worried that ‘their’ god was watching and listening, an oath sworn probably meant that mostly, it was kept. Then they discovered that their god was not a lawyer and that in properly trained legal hands, there were ways to wriggle around the purpose and intent of the oath sworn. The gods rarely trouble mankind these days – but lawyers do.  

This situation presents a problem for the citizens of a nation; where an oath is sworn by those who hold the reins of power over the well being of the nation. The oath sworn is not warranted and compliance is not a guaranteed certainty. The democratic process periodically allows the populace to decide if a political candidate has kept, or is likely to keep the oath sworn and promises made. There are many yardsticks available to measure this, but “Action is eloquence”. Watching deeds and actions is a slower pathway, both patience and time are required, for the most part those investments are rewarded with a very clear picture.

"I like not fair terms and a villain's mind."

We have all watched with attention and patience as the aviation agencies have been harried into the covets; badgered into revealing the facts and hounded to reveal where the money has actually gone and what benefit the Australian public has gleaned from those massive investments. It has not been a picture of idyllic progress; quite the reverse in fact. Before the O’Sullivan era began, there was some progress toward accountability, hard won yards in the battle to reform matters aeronautical; but the great worn tyre debacle sounded the death knell of meaningful reform. Unless the RRAT committee can regain their grip and focus; the reform fiasco and the multiple millions annually wasted on the same will continue, unabated and even encouraged by a weakened, co-opted, to even appearing captured last line of defence for an ailing industry. And yet, those same folk have sworn an oath and been given tiles, the question is will they honour the oath sworn?

It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.”

Toot – toot..

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Kharon - 06-15-2018

Mirror, mirror on the wall.
Who's the dodgiest of ‘em all?

P7 and I walking home last evening, as usual it’s a fairly quiet affair, then sotto voce he asks the mirror question.

No way to answer that straight off the bat; but it made me think. We’d done more listening than talking at the BRB – P2’s research into the ICAO rort had centre stage and there were a couple of chaps who actually understand the ICAO compliance racket fielding questions and trying to explain it all – fascinating stuff. Inevitably, ASA, ATSB and CASA were brought in to the mix as the ICAO ‘stuff’ affects them all. Much to mull over; I digress.

We walked along in silence for a minute or so, then the answer to P7’s riddle came to me. “the Senate Committee” says I. The ‘construe boy’ look was my answer; “compare”. "Well" says I, “the last estimates ASA session video with the Edwards interlude”. “In one you have a serious committee, at full throttle, asking difficult questions, no messing about, they were onto the games and determined to put a stop to them; what happened to that and why?”







Chalk, cheese and no contest; disappointing ain’t it.

Toot - toot...

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 06-20-2018

Sterlo on shipping industry decimation; & the Jones Act? 

In the Senate yesterday Sterlo vented his spleen on the 'nothing to see here, nothing to fix' Govt response to a Senate RRAT committee inquiry report. It is even worse because this time the Govt response doesn't even pretend to be concerned by the findings and basically rejects all the recommendations...  

Quote:

Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee

Government Response to Report

Senator STERLE (Western Australia) (18:08): I wish to comment on the government response to the Rural, Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee report entitled Increasing use of so-called Flag of Convenience shipping in Australiaand move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The government has finally come back with, let's say, a response. This inquiry had gone on for about 18 months. It was a very interesting inquiry by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. Senator O'Sullivan and I found ourselves at many meetings on this important topic. It started with, I think, a report by Four Corners or one of those shows—it was a couple of years ago—on a ship, the Sage Sagittarius, an infamous ship, which was crewed by foreign workers. I say at the outset so that everyone is clear that, at every stage of this inquiry, I had nothing against foreign workers, but I get pretty cranky when they are brought in and exploited, and they replace Australian jobs. I make no apology for that—never have, never will. Aussies must come first. It's pretty simple. I'd love to hear that side agree with me.

They won't. They all just look down at their iPads or their iPhones and hope to Christ that no-one was listening and I won't single them out, but I won't single them out because they're all just as guilty as each other.

The Sage Sagittarius had Captain Salas, the Filipino captain. He is notorious. He has admitted to being a gun runner. On his watch, there were two deaths at sea on this ship: Filipino seafarers. Then there was one death when the ship was unloading back in Japan. The owners of the ship had put in a detective working under—what do you call it?

Senator Scullion: Cover.

Senator STERLE: Undercover, yes, thanks—and somehow, mysteriously, when the ship berthed when it was unloading, unfortunately, he was killed. We're still waiting to find out what the heck happened there. Anyway, that was the crux of it.

I'm just going to quickly go through this. There are some significant recommendations. I have spoken many, many times about this issue in many forums and many times in this place, so I won't go over much old ground, but the committee—and this was a unanimous report—put, I think, about seven or eight recommendations to the government. We said, 'This is what needs to be done.' You must remember that, back in 1992, there was a similar inquiry into ships of shame. I'm sad to inform the Senate and all those poor devils out there listening that nothing has changed.

We have a government that are doing their best—come charging down and attack me, every member of the coalition, if you think I'm lying—and doing everything they can to see the demise of the Australian shipping industry. I've said it many times. No-one has ever yelled at me and said I'm making it up, because that's what they're darn well doing. They can lie through their eyeteeth about how good they are and how they're looking after Aussies and—what was the catchcry?—jobs and growth. That's as long as they're not Australian jobs and as long as it's not in the Australian shipping industry. Where the hell are all our seafarers going to come from—our masters, our skippers, our captains? Where the heck are all our hardworking seafarers going to come from? I'll tell you where they're going to come from with that mob, the LNP, over there: they'll come from Libya, the Philippines, Iran or whatever it is. Unfortunately, that's where it's heading.

And they're not alone. They've got partners in crime. I'll tell you right now: you can put BP and Caltex in that. We used to have Australian seafarers on Australian ships plying their trade between our ports. Not anymore, people. It's all done by foreign seafarers, and that lot over there think it's great, because that lot over there think they're doing a fantastic job. One of my recommendations—it was the committee's, but I chaired it—I want to share with everyone listening. Recommendation 1 was:

The committee recommends that the Fair Work Ombudsman implement a program of inspection for ships with foreign seafarers, to verify that the wages paid on board accord with Australian legal requirements.

We're not making something up. That is what's supposed to happen. What was the response from the government? There was another recommendation I want to share too, and then I'll give you the response. The committee also recommended:

… that the Australian Government provide adequate funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman to implement an inspection program of ships with foreign crews, to assess the payment of wages.

That's pretty simple, not hard at all.

This was the government's response, everyone: 'The Australian government does not support these recommendations.' But here's the rub: 'Furthermore, the government considers that the current arrangements for compliance in the maritime sector are sufficient and the Fair Work Ombudsman is adequately funded to support these arrangements.' Crap. Let me just give you a couple of examples. Geez, I tell you: it's really hard to control myself when I start talking about the shipping industry being torn apart and Australian jobs being exported. Then they lie. Then they can't even tell the truth. They expect us to believe that they're doing this? Let me just give you a couple of classic examples here.

In December last year, there was a ship, a Bahamas-registered vessel called the Diana, which pulled up in Melbourne. The ITF did what they normally do. They got on board. Lo and behold, they found out that this Australian company owns the Diana: Canada Steamship Lines Australia—CSL. Yes, what a great company they are! I really have got my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. In fact, when I pull my tongue out, they're far from a decent Australian company, because they are absolutely guilty of underpayment of wages. The ITF found out. The ITF are prosecuting them. They are an Australian company that have replaced Australian seafarers with foreign seafarers and foreign ships. They're getting ably assisted by that lot over there. CSL Australia also have the vessels Acacia, Adelie and Diana. You know what? What a great Australian company CSL are, because they're even refusing to sign industrial agreements so their workers can be paid Australian wages and conditions! So, Government, there's one of your mates that's out there rorting it and got caught out.

Here's another one. This is why they're telling us the Fair Work Ombudsman is funded well and they're doing a great job. They're not. This goes back to April last year. This is right in the heart of the inquiry. ITF, the International Transport Workers' Federation, lassoed the Aussie charterers of:

… a Norwegian shipping company that was allegedly—

or not allegedly; in the end, that's what they did—

paying its foreign crew a pitiful—

are you ready for this?—

$1.25 an hour while working in Australian waters.

This mob of jokers over there is trying to tell the committee, who worked their backsides off talking to the industry about the deficiencies that have been around for many years—rehashing Ships of shame,from 1992—that there is nothing to see. This is typical of LNP ministers: 'Tuck it under the desk and hopefully no-one will talk about it.' Well, we're going to keep talking about it.

So let's have a look at what they did while they were ripping off these foreign workers in Australian waters. The Fair Work Ombudsman launched an action against a mob called Transpetrol TM, claiming it underpaid no fewer than 61 foreign crew members—here we go!—a total of $255,000 when they worked on the oil tanker MT Turmoil in Australian waters between 2013 and 2015. That is carting BP's and Caltex's products around, because BP and Caltex—yes, the fuel mobs who can't wait to rip into Australian motorists at every opportunity; talk about cartels!—replaced Australian manned ships, as I said earlier, with a chartered Norwegian owned ship. I have to tell you that it just irks me. These are only a couple of examples.

I can go through all these recommendations and, lo and behold, the government doesn't accept any of them. They try to rub a little bit of salt in the wound by telling me, when we are going further, about making sure that environmentally and industrially everything is Mickey Mouse. It's not Mickey Mouse. I'll talk about that too. Here's another one. There was one I saw recently, a couple of weeks ago. Eighty-odd containers fell off a ship coming into Sydney. It was a Liberian registered ship. So what? I'll tell you so what. It was heavy seas. Yes, we know these sorts of things happen. They fell off before midnight, but it was 11 o'clock the next morning before AMSA, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, was even notified. I can tell you now: there is no way known that an Australian crewed or Australian owned ship or Australian seafarers or an Australian captain would have waited 11 or 12 hours before they thought they might decide to let AMSA know.

I'll have a lot more to say about this. I will seek leave to continue my remarks. I'm not going away. It is an absolute disgrace in our nation that the LNP government under Mr Turnbull, and previously Mr Abbott, cannot wait to wave goodbye to the Australian shipping industry, Australian seafarers and Australian ships. I've got to tell you: the Americans have the Jones Act, and it's about darned time that we had the same act—I don't care what name you call it. It's about time that we started building Australian owned, Australian built, Australian crewed ships, with Australian seafarers, Australian skippers and the whole lot. I have a lot more to say. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

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• Public Hearings
  
  
• Additional Documents
  
  
• Government Response
  
  
• Report
  
  
• Committee home page
  

For those interested here is the Google, Wikipedia and WP entries for the USA's 'Jones Act':

Quote:Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act is known as the Jones Act and deals with cabotage (coastwise trade) and requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.

Merchant Marine Act of 1920 - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920

---

The Jones Act and the perils of political ignorance - The Washington ...

Washington Post
The previously little-known Jones Act has been in the news recently because its restrictions on the use of foreign ships to carry cargo between American ...

Yet another dragged out and expensive WOFTAM Senate RRAT Inquiry finally completed with little to no chance of effective reform and as a consequence another transport industry faces the risk of further economic decline - FDS! 



MTF...P2 

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Gobbledock - 06-20-2018

The game of Government obsfucation is a skilful one that has been crafted for over a century in the Westminster system. A system designed and managed by crooks, liars, and the most dishonest and inept human beings known to man. I’m not surprised by the maritime result nor the Governments manipulation of the system. Ultimate power with an endless tap of public money, the best Barristers and the power to crush and thwart.

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - thorn bird - 06-20-2018

To true Gobbles, coming to an airport near you as well, everyone should
start to learn Mandarin or at least "singlish".

Now we know our Primary Airports are not permitted to be owned by a foreign entity, according to the Airports Act.
So how come the head lease holder on KS Sydney resides in the Bahamas?

We all know that the Airports act reserved secondary Airports for aviation use, much like our National Parks are reserved
for recreational use. It was also not allowed for property sharks to own leases on these airports.

Passing strange how much non aviation commercial development is planned or completed at secondary Airports, even down to closing runways and other Airport facilities to facilitate commercial development, and we thought the head leases said the airports must be retained and maintained in their original condition.

Almost two thirds of BK airport is at threat for Non Aviation commercial development.

It is also illegal according to the Act for a trust to own an airport.

Is a superannuation fund not a trust?

A development shark in the gun for a secondary airport development modus operandi, was to develop regardless, apologise
profusely when caught out in breach, pay a insignificant fine, then get on with making their millions because their project was so far advanced it was impossible to stop it. Anyone complain? Those that tried hauled into court until they ran out of money.

A few hundred thousand into a politicians election fund quickly soothed any political opposition.

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - P7_TOM - 06-20-2018

I reckon ‘Sterlo’ has got it. It makes sense that he should – trucks, now boats and of course aircraft = all same – same, similar problems. What a minister for transport he would make. He has proven fearless, demonstrated intelligence and; more importantly ‘a firm grasp’ of the fundamental problems. Shiny bums sitting on plush seats in Can’tberra making the big decisions - ain’t got the same hands on experience of the industry as drivers – airframe, big rig or; boats have. Sterlo actually understands it - ducking amazing:but bravo.

Don’t much care who runs the country – but, if Albo can steal the march and promises to put Sterlo a minister for transport – well! I may even start to use the title Minister. Gods know my old moggy has more brains, backbone and integrity than the current miniscule; and could probably do a better job of vermin control, Darren 7D target #1.

Can you imagine how a real Minister would get things sorted – Oh be still my beating heart.

My shout boys – I’ve just had a happy thought (first in a long while). Get to it Albo; go hard…Hells bells – I may even vote this time – perhaps.

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 06-20-2018

(06-20-2018, 11:50 AM)Peetwo Wrote:  Sterlo on shipping industry decimation; & the Jones Act? 

In the Senate yesterday Sterlo vented his spleen on the 'nothing to see here, nothing to fix' Govt response to a Senate RRAT committee inquiry report. It is even worse because this time the Govt response doesn't even pretend to be concerned by the findings and basically rejects all the recommendations...  

Quote:

Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee

Government Response to Report

Senator STERLE (Western Australia) (18:08): I wish to comment on the government response to the Rural, Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee report entitled Increasing use of so-called Flag of Convenience shipping in Australiaand move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The government has finally come back with, let's say, a response. This inquiry had gone on for about 18 months. It was a very interesting inquiry by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. Senator O'Sullivan and I found ourselves at many meetings on this important topic. It started with, I think, a report by Four Corners or one of those shows—it was a couple of years ago—on a ship, the Sage Sagittarius, an infamous ship, which was crewed by foreign workers. I say at the outset so that everyone is clear that, at every stage of this inquiry, I had nothing against foreign workers, but I get pretty cranky when they are brought in and exploited, and they replace Australian jobs. I make no apology for that—never have, never will. Aussies must come first. It's pretty simple. I'd love to hear that side agree with me.

They won't. They all just look down at their iPads or their iPhones and hope to Christ that no-one was listening and I won't single them out, but I won't single them out because they're all just as guilty as each other.

The Sage Sagittarius had Captain Salas, the Filipino captain. He is notorious. He has admitted to being a gun runner. On his watch, there were two deaths at sea on this ship: Filipino seafarers. Then there was one death when the ship was unloading back in Japan. The owners of the ship had put in a detective working under—what do you call it?

Senator Scullion: Cover.

Senator STERLE: Undercover, yes, thanks—and somehow, mysteriously, when the ship berthed when it was unloading, unfortunately, he was killed. We're still waiting to find out what the heck happened there. Anyway, that was the crux of it.

I'm just going to quickly go through this. There are some significant recommendations. I have spoken many, many times about this issue in many forums and many times in this place, so I won't go over much old ground, but the committee—and this was a unanimous report—put, I think, about seven or eight recommendations to the government. We said, 'This is what needs to be done.' You must remember that, back in 1992, there was a similar inquiry into ships of shame. I'm sad to inform the Senate and all those poor devils out there listening that nothing has changed.

We have a government that are doing their best—come charging down and attack me, every member of the coalition, if you think I'm lying—and doing everything they can to see the demise of the Australian shipping industry. I've said it many times. No-one has ever yelled at me and said I'm making it up, because that's what they're darn well doing. They can lie through their eyeteeth about how good they are and how they're looking after Aussies and—what was the catchcry?—jobs and growth. That's as long as they're not Australian jobs and as long as it's not in the Australian shipping industry. Where the hell are all our seafarers going to come from—our masters, our skippers, our captains? Where the heck are all our hardworking seafarers going to come from? I'll tell you where they're going to come from with that mob, the LNP, over there: they'll come from Libya, the Philippines, Iran or whatever it is. Unfortunately, that's where it's heading.

And they're not alone. They've got partners in crime. I'll tell you right now: you can put BP and Caltex in that. We used to have Australian seafarers on Australian ships plying their trade between our ports. Not anymore, people. It's all done by foreign seafarers, and that lot over there think it's great, because that lot over there think they're doing a fantastic job. One of my recommendations—it was the committee's, but I chaired it—I want to share with everyone listening. Recommendation 1 was:

The committee recommends that the Fair Work Ombudsman implement a program of inspection for ships with foreign seafarers, to verify that the wages paid on board accord with Australian legal requirements.

We're not making something up. That is what's supposed to happen. What was the response from the government? There was another recommendation I want to share too, and then I'll give you the response. The committee also recommended:

… that the Australian Government provide adequate funding to the Fair Work Ombudsman to implement an inspection program of ships with foreign crews, to assess the payment of wages.

That's pretty simple, not hard at all.

This was the government's response, everyone: 'The Australian government does not support these recommendations.' But here's the rub: 'Furthermore, the government considers that the current arrangements for compliance in the maritime sector are sufficient and the Fair Work Ombudsman is adequately funded to support these arrangements.' Crap. Let me just give you a couple of examples. Geez, I tell you: it's really hard to control myself when I start talking about the shipping industry being torn apart and Australian jobs being exported. Then they lie. Then they can't even tell the truth. They expect us to believe that they're doing this? Let me just give you a couple of classic examples here.

In December last year, there was a ship, a Bahamas-registered vessel called the Diana, which pulled up in Melbourne. The ITF did what they normally do. They got on board. Lo and behold, they found out that this Australian company owns the Diana: Canada Steamship Lines Australia—CSL. Yes, what a great company they are! I really have got my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. In fact, when I pull my tongue out, they're far from a decent Australian company, because they are absolutely guilty of underpayment of wages. The ITF found out. The ITF are prosecuting them. They are an Australian company that have replaced Australian seafarers with foreign seafarers and foreign ships. They're getting ably assisted by that lot over there. CSL Australia also have the vessels Acacia, Adelie and Diana. You know what? What a great Australian company CSL are, because they're even refusing to sign industrial agreements so their workers can be paid Australian wages and conditions! So, Government, there's one of your mates that's out there rorting it and got caught out.

Here's another one. This is why they're telling us the Fair Work Ombudsman is funded well and they're doing a great job. They're not. This goes back to April last year. This is right in the heart of the inquiry. ITF, the International Transport Workers' Federation, lassoed the Aussie charterers of:

… a Norwegian shipping company that was allegedly—

or not allegedly; in the end, that's what they did—

paying its foreign crew a pitiful—

are you ready for this?—

$1.25 an hour while working in Australian waters.

This mob of jokers over there is trying to tell the committee, who worked their backsides off talking to the industry about the deficiencies that have been around for many years—rehashing Ships of shame,from 1992—that there is nothing to see. This is typical of LNP ministers: 'Tuck it under the desk and hopefully no-one will talk about it.' Well, we're going to keep talking about it.

So let's have a look at what they did while they were ripping off these foreign workers in Australian waters. The Fair Work Ombudsman launched an action against a mob called Transpetrol TM, claiming it underpaid no fewer than 61 foreign crew members—here we go!—a total of $255,000 when they worked on the oil tanker MT Turmoil in Australian waters between 2013 and 2015. That is carting BP's and Caltex's products around, because BP and Caltex—yes, the fuel mobs who can't wait to rip into Australian motorists at every opportunity; talk about cartels!—replaced Australian manned ships, as I said earlier, with a chartered Norwegian owned ship. I have to tell you that it just irks me. These are only a couple of examples.

I can go through all these recommendations and, lo and behold, the government doesn't accept any of them. They try to rub a little bit of salt in the wound by telling me, when we are going further, about making sure that environmentally and industrially everything is Mickey Mouse. It's not Mickey Mouse. I'll talk about that too. Here's another one. There was one I saw recently, a couple of weeks ago. Eighty-odd containers fell off a ship coming into Sydney. It was a Liberian registered ship. So what? I'll tell you so what. It was heavy seas. Yes, we know these sorts of things happen. They fell off before midnight, but it was 11 o'clock the next morning before AMSA, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, was even notified. I can tell you now: there is no way known that an Australian crewed or Australian owned ship or Australian seafarers or an Australian captain would have waited 11 or 12 hours before they thought they might decide to let AMSA know.

I'll have a lot more to say about this. I will seek leave to continue my remarks. I'm not going away. It is an absolute disgrace in our nation that the LNP government under Mr Turnbull, and previously Mr Abbott, cannot wait to wave goodbye to the Australian shipping industry, Australian seafarers and Australian ships. I've got to tell you: the Americans have the Jones Act, and it's about darned time that we had the same act—I don't care what name you call it. It's about time that we started building Australian owned, Australian built, Australian crewed ships, with Australian seafarers, Australian skippers and the whole lot. I have a lot more to say. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

---

• Public Hearings
  
  
• Additional Documents
  
  
• Government Response
  
  
• Report
  
  
• Committee home page
  

For those interested here is the Google, Wikipedia and WP entries for the USA's 'Jones Act':

Quote:Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act is known as the Jones Act and deals with cabotage (coastwise trade) and requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.

Merchant Marine Act of 1920 - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920

---

The Jones Act and the perils of political ignorance - The Washington ...

Washington Post
The previously little-known Jones Act has been in the news recently because its restrictions on the use of foreign ships to carry cargo between American ...

Yet another dragged out and expensive WOFTAM Senate RRAT Inquiry finally completed with little to no chance of effective reform and as a consequence another transport industry faces the risk of further economic decline - FDS! 



MTF...P2 

I reckon ‘Sterlo’ has got it. It makes sense that he should – trucks, now boats and of course aircraft = all same – same, similar problems. What a minister for transport he would make. He has proven fearless, demonstrated intelligence and; more importantly ‘a firm grasp’ of the fundamental problems. Shiny bums sitting on plush seats in Can’tberra making the big decisions - ain’t got the same hands on experience of the industry as drivers – airframe, big rig or; boats have. Sterlo actually understands it - ducking amazing:but bravo.

Don’t much care who runs the country – but, if Albo can steal the march and promises to put Sterlo a minister for transport – well! I may even start to use the title Minister. Gods know my old moggy has more brains, backbone and integrity than the current miniscule; and could probably do a better job of vermin control, Darren 7D target #1. 

Can you imagine how a real Minister would get things sorted – Oh be still my beating heart.

My shout boys – I’ve just had a happy thought (first in a long while). Get to it Albo; go hard…Hells bells – I may even vote this time – perhaps.

- P7

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 06-21-2018

Statements by Senators 20 June '18: Sterlo on yet more industry advocacy.

Via Australian Senate:

Quote:

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Music Industry

John Lennon Educational Tour Bus





Senator STERLE: This may come as a bit of a shock to most of you in this place, but I don't have a musical bone in my body—I'm an old truckie after all, so that's fair enough! But I did grow up in the era of the hard rock pub bands of the seventies and the eighties. I was a long-haul truckie, driving between Perth and Darwin and to all ports in between for over 11 years. This meant that I had a heck of a lot of time on my hands, as I went through the years, to listen, firstly, to the radio, then to cassettes and then, in my later trucking years, to CDs.

When I was in my truck, driving the length and breadth of this magnificent country, I used to think I could pull off a pretty good Bon Scott impersonation, and I still do—I might do it for you later on tonight! Back then, if there was a radio station in range, you could hear the likes of Skyhooks, Sherbet, Renee Geyer, AC/DC, John Paul Young, Marcia Hines and many, many other legends of the Australian music industry. As the hundreds of thousands of miles clocked up, there was also AC/DC, Hunters & Collectors, Australian Crawl, Rose Tattoo, Divinyls, INXS, Cold Chisel, The Angels, Men at Work, 1927, Kylie Minogue, Tina Arena and many, many more artists who contributed to the rich Aussie music heritage.

As I travelled the country, I used to see posters advertising the performances of those bands and performers in towns across our nation. Many of them became household names. Those bands were part of the fabric of Australia. They went out to conquer the world alongside our sporting teams, businesses, arts and cultural acts of the seventies and the eighties. Sadly, we are not seeing that anymore. Why aren't we hearing and seeing acts to replenish those household names? Bands and solo artists have contributed to the Australian musical identity and the economy in an enormous manner over the last 50 years, and we cannot afford to lose that status on the world stage.

I go back to the 17 singles from the US rapper versus three singles from Aussie artists on the Top 40 chart. It seems like the desire of all the corporate radio networks to expose any new Aussie music comes down to the competitiveness of the very much changed business in today's internet age, where music is delivered in many, many ways.

As we sadly have no Countdown anymore, maybe the government can give our artists a radio station that will play their music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether they be 16 or 60, regardless of their music styles. As all the corporate radio companies are calling out right now for licensing fee relief, I've got a suggestion for the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Arts, Senator Fifield. How about you provide that on the proviso that they must and must only play new Australian music? Think about that. The more you play, the less you pay. I bet London to a brick that that'll get the money men loving Aussie music again.

I'm going to take this opportunity to call on all Australians to take a minute to email or call your local member of parliament to tell them, 'We want you to support our Aussie artists and new Aussie music.' The challenge goes out to Australia. Let our music and talent lead us to another great era for the Australian music industry.

I'm going to now move to my other favourite topic and I want to share with the chamber in the remaining minutes that I have an exciting project I have been working on for well over 18 months now. I had the opportunity through a very dear friend of mine, Mr Robbie Williams in Perth, a legend of the Australian music industry that goes back to the '70s with Michael Chugg, Michael Gudinski and others. Robbie asked me if I had heard of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, to which I replied, 'Absolutely not.' Robbie suggested I should probably Google it and meet him down at the Leopold Hotel in Bicton Sunday arvo at two o'clock for a cold one. And I did. This bus is an unbelievable state-of-the-art, not-for-profit mobile recording studio. But that's just the start of it.

I went to New York. It was arranged that I could meet up with the CEO and co-founder, Mr Brian Rothschild. I went to Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York. I saw the bus. I got on the bus. I met with students who were on the bus playing their music. The whole concept is that schoolkids can get on the bus when the bus gets to their school. They can write a song, they can write stories and they can record—there are all the musical instruments there—and by two o'clock in the afternoon it's up on YouTube and the whole world can see what these kids have done. Brian gave me a bit of a surprise, because he had one Yoko Ono Lennon waiting. She wasn't waiting for me—she was doing an interview—but I happened to be out the front like a schoolkid waiting to meet the great Yoko, and I did. I asked Yoko, if we could get a bus to Australia, if she would launch it.

So my fingers are crossed that we can get this darn bus built. Talk has gone on too long now; it's time to deliver. It will prick your ears—and a lot of people in this place know about it because I haven't shut up about it—to hear that it will tour Australia. There is a budget put together, and we're off and running. I have recruited these musical legends Michael Chugg, Michael Gudinski and Mark Pope—and Mark's resume is as long as Chuggie's and as long as Michael's—to work with us. But I also thought, 'I need to do this properly and I need to do it where it is apolitical and can deliver the best outcome for our kids in rural and regional Australia, giving our kids the opportunity to tell their stories, record their music, write their songs and anything else that goes with it.' That's before I start on cultural advantages that will come with this as well.

So we've joined up with another legend—well, legend in his own lunchbox, but I say that quietly because he had a crack at me yesterday!—in Senator Barry O'Sullivan. I wanted to make this across the chamber. I went to Senator O'Sullivan because he is rural. I know his commitment to kids goes without saying. Senator O'Sullivan and I are working on this with Michael Chugg, Michael Gudinski, Mark Pope and, of course, Brian Rothschild in the US.

I will have a lot more to say about the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. I have put the proposal wide in this building. All we're asking for is a measly sum of money to build this magnificent project. We don't want anything else. The philanthropic and business worlds will fund this. There's a lot of talk going on. But I am putting the plea to the government for the price to build this bus, to get it rolling on the highways and the byways of Australia and to roll it out to our rural and regional communities to give the kids who live outside the cities a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get on this state-of-the-art bus and write, play and record their music. I have spent many, many days rolling through the Kimberley showing it to the kids—Aboriginal kids and non-Aboriginal kids. How they would love to have a bus like this coming through their communities; it's overwhelming. I have not had one negative word.

So, on that, my plea is out there to the government to get behind Senator O'Sullivan and me and to get behind our music legends, who are putting their hard-earned time into this project for free because they are passionate about it. As I said in the contribution that I made earlier: we cannot let the Australian music industry die. This is what we have done. For people of my ilk, it is criminal that we don't have Countdown for Australian music.[/color]

Quote:P7: ...Don’t much care who runs the country – but, if Albo can steal the march and promises to put Sterlo a minister for transport – well! I may even start to use the title Minister. Gods know my old moggy has more brains, backbone and integrity than the current miniscule; and could probably do a better job of vermin control, Darren 7D target #1... 

Now here's a thought: How good would it be if Sterlo, with the grudging support of Sen Barry O'Obfuscation, was to give a similar passionate speech in support of the smaller end of town aviation businesses and industry, as the Minister responsible for Transport under a Albanese led labor government - well I can dream can't I?    


MTF...P2 

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Gobbledock - 06-21-2018

Stirlo’s theme song - Big Balls

Well nobody can say that Stirlo never got his hands dirty. Driving across Australia in a big rig during the 70/80’s was gruelling. Still is. I just hope that he added Black Sabbath, Uriah Heap, Motörhead and Deep Purple to his playlist.

Just for you Stirlo, because you actually do have a set. Cheers;

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - P7_TOM - 06-26-2018

Dear GD – I’ll see your Ac/DC and raise you a Kenneth Williams.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1011338203742294016

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 07-02-2018

 Budget Estimates Report & QON list - 

For those remotely interested the diligent committee Secretariat has managed to compile the Budget Estimates report:

Quote:2018-2019 Budget estimates

Report
2018-19 Budget estimates - (PDF 180KB)

     
The report states that answers to the QON are due by this Friday, yet historically the due date is very rarely complied with. A quick look at the QON list would appear to show there is not going to be any change in precedence this time - see HERE - with not one QON answered at this time...  

Now although this expensive taxpayer funded Parliamentary Q&A process - treated by the Mandarins and their minions as nothing more than a petty irritation to be treated with disdain and the use of all manner of bureaucratic obfuscation tactics to totally avoid answering the questions honestly and transparently - the following is a couple of QON of minor interest to certain sectors of the IOS fraternity...

Quote:Question on notice no. 193

Portfolio question number: 297
2018-19 Budget estimates
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, Infrastructure, Regional
Development and Cities Portfolio

Senator Jonathon Duniam: asked the Airservices Australia on 22 May 2018—
Airservices stated in its evidence that it complied with its obligations under the EPBC
Act when implementing the new paths. However, according to the Air Noise
Ombudsman's report, Airservices said that its 'environmental assessment' report
should not be considered as a record of its decision-making process in this regard.
Please provide a record of the environmental assessment decision-making process
which demonstrates how Airservices met its legal obligations to determine the
significance of the impact of the new flight paths within the meaning of the EPBC
Act.

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Question on notice no. 194

Portfolio question number: 298
2018-19 Budget estimates
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, Infrastructure, Regional
Development and Cities Portfolio

Senator Jonathon Duniam: asked the Airservices Australia on 22 May 2018—
Airservices stated in its evidence that the number of 'go arounds' (missed approaches)
had reduced by 5 compared with the same period in the previous year to illustrate that
safety has been improved by the new paths. However, I understand that Airservices
does not classify go-arounds as a safety breach. For example, regarding go-arounds, I
note that its website states 'This standard manoeuvre does not constitute any sort of
emergency or threat to safety'. Please advise why you used these incidents as a
measure of safety performance. Regarding the period you used as the baseline for
comparison of go-arounds at Hobart in your evidence, is it the case that construction
works had made the runway approximately 500m shorter at that time, thereby
increasing the likelihood of go arounds, making this an inappropriate comparison?

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Question on notice no. 195

Portfolio question number: 299
2018-19 Budget estimates
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, Infrastructure, Regional
Development and Cities Portfolio

Senator Jonathon Duniam: asked the Airservices Australia on 22 May 2018—
From safety data obtained from Airservices under the Freedom of Information Act, I
note that there appears to have been a pattern of aircraft failing to meet the
appropriate height requirements of the new paths (particularly SIDs) , including the
two 'loss of separation' and one 'loss of separation assurance' incidents referred to in
your evidence. These appear to involve different types of aircraft and presumably
different airlines. Can you confirm whether all of these incidents are 'pilot
attributable' and if not, please provide the cause of the incidents from September 2017
to March 2018 Can you also please provide dates and explanations of similar
incidents (i.e. where an aircraft has failed to comply with the height requirements of
the SIDs or STARs) post-16 March 2018.

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Question on notice no. 207


Portfolio question number: 236
2018-19 Budget estimates
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, Infrastructure, Regional
Development and Cities Portfolio
Senator PATRICK:  asked the Civil Aviation Safety Authority on 22 May 2018
—
Senator PATRICK: So these photographs are of the state of a tyre for a Qantas aircraft that landed in Brisbane. It was transiting through Townsville, this was in
2016, and the log of events shows that, due to insufficient manpower available to
carry out the wheel change, the aircraft was sent on: 'The tyre may continue in service without safety concerns but must be replaced at the next check.' The bottom line is that there were not enough engineers on the ground to change the tyre, so they sent the aircraft on to the next location-possibly under commercial pressure; I don't understand the reasons why. But you would I'm sure appreciate, Mr Carmody, the seriousness of having an aircraft take off with a tyre in that state, noting in extremis the Concorde, when it took off from Paris, shed a tyre which went through the fuel tanks, with a tragedy at the end of that. So I suspect you would be concerned about an aircraft that might take off with a tyre like that?

Mr Carmody: I'm aware of the matter because it was 18 months ago. It's been referred to us. It's been referred to the Industry Complaints Commissioner, and the Industry Complaints Commissioner has reviewed the matter. So it's gone through our internal processes. I will make a couple of points: I saw the document, which hasn't been tabled but which you read out, that the tyre was released. So an engineer certified that the tyre was okay. I don't know,therefore, what damage occurred on subsequent landing. I assume that's not take-off damage; that's landing damage. An engineer certified it was suitable for take-off.

Senator PATRICK: I've talked to a number of engineers who have suggested that that
sort of damage to a tyre couldn't happen on a single landing; you might get an isolated  location; the point of the two photographs is they show that it's all around the tyre. But, in general, would that not concern you at all?

Mr Carmody: I was concerned, but, as I said, the matter was raised, it went to the independent Industry Complaints Commissioner and it was reviewed. So, as far as I'm concerned, any matters have been resolved.

Senator PATRICK: That's noted.

Mr Carmody: There is a completely independent mechanism; it's independent of me.

CHAIR: I appreciate that. I often have a plumber come to my house and the tap is still leaking afterwards. If that's the case, then I'd be concerned about the independence or the attention paid by an independent-

Senator PATRICK: Can I just stop, because I think there is a step in the middle that you are missing. That is that this gets investigated by CASA, and in this instance it was. There were concerns over the investigation and it then went on to the
complaints commissioner. The role of the complaints commissioner is not to conduct
an investigation. The complaint was that CASA had not conducted its job properly.

Mr Carmody: So it was investigated by CASA and it was then peer reviewed by
another office, so a different part of the organisation, to see whether the investigation
was well founded, which we do quite often in contentious cases. We put inspectors
from a different location on to review the matter so that we have a different set of
eyes-an independent set of eyes. That was done in the process. Then it went to the
industry complaints commissioner.

CHAIR: We could spar around all day here-I hope I don't mow your lawn, Senator-I'd like you to take on notice to supply the committee with the entire file, cover to cover: any artefacts; any photographs; any interviews, whether audio or otherwise; any files that are held, IT, however it does. You know the drill. From A to Z, supply it to the committee so that we can have a look at this.

Mr Carmody: Certainly, Senator....

Senator Scullion: Can I just get a point of clarification. For the interests of completeness, the body is slightly independent from you. So thematerial of the committee you are going to provide includes their deliberations as
well?

CHAIR: Absolutely. Senator Scullion: Just for clarification. CHAIR: Thank
you for that, Minister-A to Z.

MTF? - Probably not...P2 

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Gobbledock - 07-06-2018

Of used by dates and bib and braces

Veteran Queensland senators Ian Macdonald and Barry O'obsfucation have been dumped by the LNPoo for new faces. It seems the party is getting tired of old and decrepit has-beens  whose only contribution is eating sandwiches in the Parlousment House cafeteria and running to the shitter every 10 minutes to squeeze out just one lowly piss droplet!

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-06/lnp-senator-ian-macdonald-dumped/9949760

Hey Barry you ignorant old toss-pot, as you say goodbye to Malcolm don’t bang the door on the way out. Fool.

P7 - And so say all of us.

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 07-11-2018

ANAO to (potentially) audit the three stooges -   

From the Mandarin, on this financial year's ANAO proposed audit program, it would appear that the Dept's aviation safety agencies are potentially slated for individual scrutiny...  

Quote:Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities

Potential

• Administration of regulation by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority
  
  
• Efficiency of the airport master plan approval process
  
  
• Efficiency of the investigation of transport accidents and safety occurrences
  
  
• OneSKY contractual arrangements
  
  
• Regional Jobs and Investment Packages
  
  
• Western Sydney Airport procurement activities
  

  
Now that the BO roadblock is soon to be removed, it has been reported from the Wagga summit, the Senate RRAT committee has committed itself to a renewed vigor of providing (non-partisan) Parliamentary advocacy for the aviation industry...  

Maybe in the interest of providing surety of this new commitment, the committee as a point of priority could ensure the top four on the 'potential' list (above) are referred by the committee to be completed ASAP.

For the benefit of Sandy -   , I also find it interesting that one of the ANAO 'key areas of focus' for 2018-19 is...


..Value for money and transparency of the operations of government business enterprises..


  
MTF...P2 

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 07-24-2018

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

Yawn -   

Have just spent half a day monitoring the air routes Senate Inquiry public hearing held today at Mount Gambier - see program HERE. Mostly mundane until the REX segment which featured none other than Mr Teflon himself - former miniscule John Sharp: 



Sharpy today was in fine form and tackled much of the questioning from Sterlo & committee et.al with the typical aplomb we would expect from a current REX company Deputy Chair and former Govt miniscule...  

Anyway when the Hansard is published I'll ensure there is a link because there was much interesting banter on many significant subjects, including the airline vs airport bun-fight and the pilot shortage. 

Also standby, because apparently REX & Sharpie will be making another appearance at the upcoming Sydney inquiry hearing. However in the meantime for the record here is a link for the REX submission: http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Sub135_REX.pdf

Hmm...this is interesting -   :

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Next an update to the BO MH370 potential COI saga. The following is a link for the just tabled ' Register of Senators Interests':  

1. Senators’ Interests—Register of senators interests incorporating statements of registrable interests and notifications of alterations lodged between 1 January 2018 and 30 June 2018, dated July 2018. [Received 20 July 2018]
   

 

If you scroll down to page 179 you'll come across this declaration from Senator BO to the Usher of the Black Rod:

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Hmm...IMO still doesn't add up but at the end of the day who cares because it would appear that BO has been given the flick anyway:

Quote:STATEMENT FROM THE FEDERAL NATIONALS ON SENATOR BARRY O'SULLIVAN

[color=rgba(23, 23, 23, 0.9)]Leader of The Nationals Michael McCormack has acknowledged Barry O’Sullivan’s service in the Senate on behalf of the party.
“Senator O’Sullivan is a tremendous advocate for Queensland, especially willing to stand up and fight for rural and regional Queenslanders,” Mr McCormack said.
“Since joining the Senate in 2014, he has championed issues on behalf of farmers such as drought policy and rural banking and finance.
“He has also held a number of important positions for The Nationals during his Senate service.
“These include being The Nationals Whip in the Senate and Co-Chair of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee and References Committee where he has provided invaluable input and insight into inquiries concerning policy issues critical to the Australian agricultural sector including the Murray Darling Basin and other areas such as regional air services.
“Senator O’Sullivan is a warrior for the bush dedicated to the LNP who has always gone into fight and look after those people who needed a voice.
“Among his achievements included being instrumental in establishing the Royal Commission into banking with the impact on farmers and rural lending practices, his prime motivation.”
In acknowledging Senator O’Sullivan’s record of service, The Nationals would also like to congratulate businesswoman and long-serving party member Susan McDonald for winning pre-selection at number two on the Queensland LNP Senate ticket.
The Nationals would also like to acknowledge others who have won pre-selection for the Queensland LNP Senate ticket today representing a strong field of candidates for the next federal election, to continue fighting for the best interests of Queenslanders.
“We look forward to Susan McDonald being a considerable force representing Queensland and the interests of regional Australia,” Mr McCormack said.
Deputy Leader of The Nationals and Senate colleague Bridget McKenzie said she sincerely thanked Senator O’Sullivan for his service for Queensland.
“There has been no better fighter for the bush,” Senator McKenzie said.
“Senator O’Sullivan has shown tireless support for the Australian beef industry, the sugar industry and farmers in the grips of drought and natural disasters, especially those in rural Queensland.
“He is also been integral in supporting improvements to vital services for rural and regional Australians such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. “He has made a significant contribution to the Senate, the nation and The Nationals and am confident he will continue to do so.[/color]

MTF...P2  

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 07-30-2018

In the wake of the Senate air routes inquiry - 

Via the Oz today:

Quote:When regional fares cost the earth … and more

The Australian


“When our friends and family came to town for Sean's funeral, some of them travelled from New Zealand and still paid more to fly from Brisbane to Mount Isa ...

The crippling fares charged for ­regional air services have left ­towns bitter about the corporate muscle of Australia’s major airlines.

Residents of places such as Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Weipa, Kununurra and Newman feel they are being held to ransom for living in a remote place, and being forced to pay thousands of dollars in airfares if they wish to travel any significant distance. It is not unusual for fares ­between destinations such as Mount Isa and Townsville, or Weipa and Brisbane, to cost more than fares from Sydney to Los Angeles.

The issue is the subject of a ­Senate inquiry co-chaired by Queensland senator Barry O’Sullivan, but Mount Isa mother of three Emma Harman is sceptical about what the inquiry will achieve.

In late March, Mrs Harman’s husband, Sean, died in a car crash she blames on the high cost of airfares on regional routes.

Faced with an exorbitant bill to fly their son from Mount Isa to Sydney where he was to board the Young Endeavour, the Harmans opted to drive 1200km to Cairns and pay a much lower fare to Sydney. Just over 200km from their destination, Mr Harman, 43, swerved to avoid animals on the road and their vehicle careered into a tree.

His wife and three children survived but he was killed. Yesterday, his grieving widow said she felt compelled to speak out because airfares and services on regional routes “needed attention”.

“When our friends and family came to town for Sean’s funeral, some of them travelled from New Zealand and still paid more to fly from Brisbane to Mount Isa then they had for the first leg of their trip,” Mrs Harman said. “They were horrified.”

She said in nine years of living in the town, airfares had remained consistently high at the same time as the aircraft had deteriorated.

“We pay high Qantas or Virgin Australia fares, then we get Alliance planes that are really old,” Mrs Harman said. “There’s no in-flight entertainment, the food is substandard and sometimes the planes don’t even turn up.”

It is a view shared by her state member, Rob Katter, who is frustrated at seeing remote communities treated as second-class citizens by airlines. “We’ve had families taking out personal loans to get to funerals,” Mr Katter said.

“A lady who works for me in the office, her kids often make sporting teams but they have to say no, because they can’t afford to send them away. There’s so many stories like that.”

He said the federal government should compel airlines to ­reveal more about their pricing.

Senator O’Sullivan said the Senate inquiry was looking for evidence of price gouging and other behaviour for which airlines could be held accountable.

“We’ve seen, for example, where through inclement weather a particular highway is cut, and the airfare doubled until the road opened up again,” Senator O’Sullivan said. “That would appear to be a classic example of (airlines) taking advantage of the circumstances of more remote communities.”

Airlines would have the opportunity to front the inquiry in due course, and provide more details about their pricing models, he said.

Qantas’s submission to the inquiry rejected the perception that regional routes were high-yielding or lucrative for the airline.

“The cost of operation for a ­regional flight is always higher per passenger than on services between capital cities,” said the submission by Qantas group executive Andrew Parker. “With fewer passengers and frequencies to distribute costs, it is difficult to achieve efficiencies on regional routes.”

Virgin’s submission said ­regional fares fluctuated due to several factors, including demand, how close the date of booking is to the travel date, competitive ­activity, seasonality, operating costs and third-party costs such as airport pricing and taxes.

MTF...P2 

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Gobbledock - 07-30-2018

THE GREAT AIRFARE CON JOB

My experience as a businessman in the aviation sector over the past 6 to 12 months are as follows;

Airfares are higher at the destinations serviced by just one carrier - that’s gouging.

Airfares are higher to regional communities that are predominately mining communities/towns - that’s gouging.

The three major regional airlines - Alliance, VA and The Rat are playing a game of ruthless hardball with airports over fees and charges. The past 2 years have been brutal, particularly Qantas with its own ‘written rule’ about airports needing to provide them with 90 days written notice regarding fees and charges increases each year. So what they do is that they know that Councils don’t adopt budgets until early June each year, and only then can the new charges be sent out. So that means the new rates (if Qantas accept them) don’t start getting paid until around September each year. And even then Qantas will say ‘just because you sent us the new rates doesn’t mean we will pay them’. They are demanding an intimate breakdown of airports finances and fee setting mechanisms and methodologies, yet they refuse to provide the same sort of airline data to the airports. The ACCC are too stupid to even be aware of this rort and are certainly to gutless to chase down the airlines - now that is a gouge.

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 07-31-2018

In reply to Ironsider's Oz article (above):

Via the PAIN email chain:

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When regional fares cost the earth … and more

The Australian

Quote:Sandy - Robyn Ironside’s article has a photo of Emma Hartman of Mt. Isa whose husband was killed in a car accident on a long long drive to a coastal destination because they couldn’t afford to fly.

One day I would hope that Australians will wake up to the fact that that the freedom part of free enterprise is the only efficient and cost effective way of providing services, and indeed our prosperous way of life. Air services are no different. 

Where government controls like CASA’s massive over-regulation and fee gouging of General Aviation (GA) impedes our freedoms then watch as the costs zoom up. When technologies are making flying safer than ever CASA is imposing ever more complex and unworkable rules causing great and continuing compliance costs. These costs are compounded also for smaller regional carriers and combined with lack of airport freehold all add to the expenses of flying. Governments of both stripes have slowly forced the closure of hundreds of small flying schools all over Australia. Aircraft refueling facilities have been decommissioned, and with no training the bedrock of aviation has virtually collapsed. 

The thirty year experiment of the bloated, 800 strong, independent Commonwealth corporate regulator, left to its own devices is at the heart of the loss of aviation services in regional and rural areas in Australia. 

If Parliament continues sits on its hands in denial, like our do nothing present aviation Minister Michael MacCormack, then the situation will continue to worsen. Alex in the Rises.

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&.. from Mike Smith:

Meanwhile, here in the USA. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/july/26/senate-bill-supports-aviation-careers?utm_source=eBrief&utm_medium=email

Quote:SENATE BILL SUPPORTS AVIATION CAREERS

July 26, 2018 By Amelia Walsh

It’s no secret that the booming aviation industry is here to stay, according to aerospace giant Boeing, which called the demand for pilots “unprecedented” in its jobs forecast released July 23 at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Despite countless opportunities, not enough young people are getting involved in the industry. Key members of the Senate hope their new bipartisan legislation, the Securing and Revitalizing Aviation (SARA) Act of 2018, will change that.


The Capitol is home to the U.S. Congress and its House and Senate governing bodies, two of the many government agencies that have influence over general aviation. Photo by David Tulis.

Introduced July 25 by Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)—both pilots—the SARA Act works to enhance protections for general aviation pilots and encourage more young people to pursue careers in aviation. The bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).


As a member of the Senate General Aviation Caucus and a certificated flight instructor with more than 11,000 flight hours, Inhofe has been a longtime supporter of GA and was one of the leading proponents of third class medical reform, which is now referred to as BasicMed. Now, the senator believes the SARA Act will be key to growing the pilot community.

“This bill will empower the next generation of needed pilots by giving young Americans access to quality aviation curriculum such as ground school—a critical first step for most careers in aviation. It further embraces needed reforms to address the substantial delays recreational and commercial pilots face in scheduling check rides, impacting their ability to obtain and maintain necessary qualifications.”

Boeing’s jobs forecast showed that through 2037, there is a need for 635,000 pilots, 622,000 commercial technicians, and 858,000 cabin crew members for a total of 2.12 million jobs.

But the trajectory to becoming a commercial pilot often starts with the basics—and that means ground school. The SARA Act supports the education of pilots by authorizing grants to support the pilot workforce and for supporting entities creating high school aviation curriculum.

The SARA Act doesn’t just benefit student pilots. The bill also enhances protections for GA pilots by authorizing the National Transportation Safety Board to review the FAA’s denial of an airman medical certificate and let an airman reapply without unnecessary wait times.

For pilots flying with charitable organizations like Angel Flight and Pilots N Paws, the SARA Act would qualify volunteers for limited liability protection as long as they follow appropriate procedures, have the FAA-required flight experience, and maintain some amount of liability insurance.

As it stands today, many pilots face wait times up to four to six months to schedule a checkride or other skills testing. The SARA Act takes steps to reform designated pilot examiner (DPE) regulations. The bill would allow for more daily checkrides and remove arbitrary geographic boundaries. Ultimately, it would maintain the appropriate number of DPEs to accommodate the needs of the aviation community.

“Senator Inhofe is a steadfast proponent of general aviation, and we thank him for introducing the SARA Act,” said AOPA President Mark Baker. “This legislation will help rebuild the pilot workforce by introducing more young people to aviation curriculum in high school classrooms, provide pilots who volunteer their time and resources with reasonable good Samaritan protections, help address issues the pilot community is facing with a depleted designated pilot examiner workforce, address good environmental stewardship for seaplane pilots to help stop the spread of aquatic invasive species in our nation’s lakes and rivers, and other positive provisions that will move general aviation forward. AOPA and hundreds of thousands of pilots across America support the SARA Act and urge the Senate to include this bill in the pending FAA Reauthorization.”

Duckworth believes the SARA Act is a commonsense way to address many critical challenges facing the aviation industry. “I’m proud to join Senator Inhofe in introducing this bipartisan legislation that directly targets these problems by expanding educational opportunities for students pursuing careers in aviation, protecting volunteer pilots, and implementing safeguards that benefit the entire aviation community.”

Pilots attending this year’s EAA AirVenture can hear more about the SARA Act and issues facing the industry at Inhofe’s Congressional Forum on Saturday, July 28, at 10 a.m. in Forum Building 6.

Mike

MTF...P2 

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RE: Senate Estimates - 2017-18. - Peetwo - 08-03-2018

Mount Gambier Hansard now out - 

Link - HERE - for the Hansard from the Mount Gambier air routes public hearing.

Extracts from the John Sharp & REX session:

Quote:CHAIR: Let me throw this at you:Senator O'Sullivan and I talked about this in the Senate chamber in February when we first came back. We said, 'We're reading the challenges'—we know the challenges: the GA, RPT and all that—'and we're hearing that there's a shortage of pilots.' As an advanced nation, this shouldn't be happening. We should have our eye on the ball; we don't want it to get to that. We asked our diligent secretary to write to the parliamentary lobby. Mr Sharp, you would understand the role of the Parliamentary Library for us in our work. That's a good start to see how things go. Under Dr Thomson's hand, a letter was written to the Parliamentary Library on 21 March 2018 with a question relating to a possible pilot shortage in Australia. 'As confirmed in our subsequent discussion, you have asked for a briefing on the current or potential shortage of pilots in Australia and internationally.' The Parliamentary Library, who I have the greatest respect for, wrote back to us on 28 March and said: 'Short answer: claims about pilot shortages have been made widely for the last 10 to 15 years.'—yes, we've heard that—'There is no evidence that a shortage currently exists in Australia or overseas.' Maybe we need to go back to the Parliamentary Library and say, 'Maybe you need to look in the breeding grounds for the bigger airlines to see'—

Mr Sharp : There is no shortage of people who want to be pilots. When we advertise for applications for the cadet program—I think in the first year we did it we had something like 8,000 applications for, in effect, a capacity of about 40 cadets that we could actually train during the next twelve months. There's no lack of people who want to be pilots; there's a lack of an ability to train them. Part of the reason why is that it's a food chain. The big airlines steal from us. We then go to the flying schools and take an instructor, and that means the flying school doesn't have an instructor and so there aren't people coming through the system from below. Like all food chains, you've got to manage it from top to bottom. In our case, there simply isn't a flow through of people. You're quite right: not all pilots, but a lot of pilots want to fly bigger planes and earn larger amounts of money. A number of pilots are happy working for Rex and living in a country town. In many ways, working for a regional airline's easier than being involved in a large domestic or commercial airline. There's a better lifestyle in a regional airline than there is in those bigger airlines for the pilots and the cabin crew.

We recognise that there are lots of people who want to, but it's very hard to actually train them and have the facilities for it. We've got 22 glass-cockpit aircraft in Wagga. We've got a number of instructors there. We have accommodation for 94 people. The airfield has a capacity to handle a certain amount of traffic. Finding instructors these days is a very difficult task. Qantas have announced they're going to create their own cadet program. That's very good. They've said they want to train 500 cadets a year. They'll never do it. They'll be lucky to train 100 cadets a year, because there aren't enough people down the chain, like instructors, to actually train 100 people. It's that difficult. So it's going to be quite some time before we can build up again to have sufficient people in the whole of the food chain to meet our needs.

There is no question we're not making this pilot shortage up. It's a real thing for us. It causes us as airline managers an enormous amount of headache. Every day a juggling act goes on, trying to work out how many flights we can actually operate with the crews that we have available. Our cancellation rate has trebled in the last year or so, from normally around 0.5 or 0.6 to, as I mentioned earlier, 1.7 in the case of Mount Gambier. But that's pretty much a consistent cancellation figure across the board now, and other airlines have the same problem. Qantas has the same problem. Virgin has the same problem.

Some airlines, particularly Chinese airlines, are paying extremely high salaries for experienced captains. You hear figures of US$750,000 to US$1 million tax free. No airline in Australia could compete at those sorts of prices. We operate 34-seat aircraft. We've only got 34 passengers to pay for the cost of the pilot. If you're operating a 430-seat aircraft, you've got 430 passengers to pay for the cost of the pilot and the other crew members. The bigger the plane, the more you can afford to pay pilots. So we can't really afford to pay our pilots more than we do now. We would argue that once you become a captain you're pretty well paid. It's not a bad-paying job, and it has prospects for further improvement as you go up the seniority ladder and you take on more responsibilities.

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CHAIR: Let me ask you this from your previous role. Seriously, it's an issue that we should be looking at. We should be mature enough to say as a nation that we never want to get to a situation where we have to rely on foreign pilots, for a number of reasons. I'd be the first to say that I'm not a lover of 457s, but I understand that, where there are potholes, they need to be filled, but I don't sympathise with anyone when we've seen them coming for years and years but no-one made the investment to train our own people. I'm on the record many times saying that. Surely, there's got to be some political leadership in this nation. I'm not being a smartie here. You're a previous minister. Do we think that the airlines, with the greatest respect, are going to drive this? As though Qantas and Virgin are going to sit there and voluntarily say, 'How can we help you train more people?' 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.'

Mr Sharp : I agree. We've been singing this song for some time and we've been saying it for a lot longer. We've never really stopped talking about it since it first hit us, including the need to establish cadet programs. All of the airlines should have their own content programs and should have their own academy. We'd be very happy to train them and pass them on to those airlines. We see this as an important issue for the future viability of our industry. Both Boeing and Airbus and other institutions have been forecasting the growth of airline business, which translates to aircraft sales, which translates to more pilots. They've been saying this for years. The writing has been on the wall. I have to say, though, that at times airlines have had to offload pilots. Qantas, for example, some years ago offloaded some pilots—let them go—because there were too many. So we've had inevitable ups and downs occur. I think it's an issue that has to be addressed. We need to have a formalised understanding that pilot training is an important part of our economy and that governments should be engaging with industry to ensure that we can cater for our needs in the future, because passenger numbers grow, flight numbers grow, and all the evidence is there that it's going to continue for a long time to come.

CHAIR: For a greater audience than this, I'm one of those. I won't speak for my colleagues. Deregulation, to me, is not always the simple answer. We hear that one person's red tape is another one's minimum standard, and all sorts of stuff like that. For something as important as this, for crying out loud, there needs to be political leadership. I'm not saying the government needs to do it, but there are plenty of things that we could do with taxation and all sorts of stuff like that, if we were fair dinkum and were listening to the aviation industry. 'It's not our problem. It's distance.' 'It's Qantas's problem.' 'It's Virgin's problem.' 'It's your problem.' Like you said, pay the pilots more, but, at the same time, reduce. I understand that. I just want to get your thoughts as the deputy chairman now, not as a previous minister. If you were at the table, I'd be throwing it at you when we got back to Canberra.

Mr Sharp : We have, in recent times, for the first time in the history of the aviation industry, formed a group called Airlines for Australia and New Zealand. In the past, the individual airlines in Australia looked after their own affairs. We always look to Qantas and say, 'They're big enough and tough enough to look after themselves,' and they probably look to us and say the same thing. In the last year or so, we agreed to form this group. Our purpose is to carry to government a combined united voice on industry affairs.

The leading issue for us is airport monopolies and their behaviour. Another issue which we've also been dealing with government on is the pilot shortage. It's probably our No. 2 issue—maybe No. 1. But we're trying to now get a united voice to take to government. The airlines that are part of it are Rex, Virgin, Qantas and Air New Zealand as the founding members of this organisation. In this way, we hope that government will take more notice of us and we can talk about these problems.

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CHAIR: Is it not the case, Mr Sharp, that we're frightening the living daylights out of the training providers now, with the increased regulation demanded by CASA?

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.

CHAIR: Maybe we should do that with the crooks that have been doing the heavy-vehicle driver instructor training and assessing in Queensland, Victoria and WA.

Mr Sharp : 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.

MTF...P2 

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