[Peetwo]

Via the Yaffa:

Several regional airports around Australia have good infrastructure but no training capability, which Barnaby Joyce wants to change in the coming two years. (Steve Hitchen)

What the Minister expects

25 January 2022

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Barnaby Joyce has issued the Civil Aviation Safety Authority with a new Statement of Expectations (SoE), which specifically addresses some concerns of the general aviation community.

The SoE, issued last week, is a legislative instrument that outlines all the actions and responsibilities that the government  expects CASA to carry out between the period 31 January 2022 and 30 June 2023, addressing issues such as governance, regulatory approach, key initiatives and stakeholder engagement.

"A safe, economically sustainable and well-regulated aviation sector is critical to Australia’s national productivity and keeping Australians connected to each other and the world," Joyce states in the SoE. "The Government considers that CASA plays an important role in ensuring that the aviation sector delivers economic and social benefits to all Australians through safe operations.

"CASA’s role and performance should keep pace with the sector, including emerging technologies and, without compromising safety outcomes, facilitate opportunities for the sector to sustain itself, grow and innovate.

"Acting as a decisive and responsive regulator, CASA will balance the benefits of reducing the regulatory burden on the sector with helping to ensure the delivery of safety and public interest outcomes."

Despite efforts by lobbyists in the aviation community, the SoE maintains the primacy of safety as set down in the Civil Aviation Act 1996, but requires CASA to take a scalable approach to regulation.

"The Act stipulates that CASA must regard the safety of air navigation as the most important consideration," Joyce states. "Safety management requires a systems-based approach, including risk based and evidence driven decision making by CASA (including well documented safety cases) as well as industry.

"CASA’s regulatory approach should be scalable to the size and complexity of each aviation activity and take into account the differing risks associated with different industry sectors and categories of operations.

"My expectation is that CASA will perform its functions in a manner consistent with the Act and has appropriate regard to the economic and cost impacts of its decisions and actions on individuals, businesses and the community."

Addressing specific issues, Joyce has demanded that CASA:

• review its regulatory philosophy and update it if required, in consultation with the aviation sector, by the end of 2022
  
• fully consider the impact of new regulations on general aviation, with a particular focus on regional and remote Australia
  
• review its consultation framework with stakeholders in the aviation community to support developing fit-for-purpose regulatory amendments and addressing key safety issues by 30 June 2022
  
• release an exposure draft of proposed regulations for industry consultation before regulations are sent for approval
  
• review its client services standards and ensure there are key performance indicators, such as processing times, for all client delivery functions published on its website by 30 June 2022
  
• seek to publish by 1 May 2022 a work plan of measures being developed that will reduce, where appropriate, the regulatory burden on general aviation
  
• provide an annual report on CASA’s forward regulatory program and how the views of the aviation community have been taken into account.
  

The SoE also charges CASA will implementing several key initiatives, among which are helping Geoscience Australia and Airservices establish Space-based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) in Australia, and identifying "effective mechanisms to help ensure that flight instruction and related services are more widely, readily and efficiently available, especially in remote and regional areas of Australia."

Bolstering flight training in the regions has long been thought to be a key factor in any GA revitalisation program, hampered by an inability for flying instructors to operate alone outside the supervision of a school with a training Air Operator's Certificate (AOC).

CASA is expected to respond to the SoE with a Statement of Intent issued no later than 13 April this year.

The Statement of Expectations can be downloaded from the Federal Register of Legislation website.

MTF...P2