[Peetwo]

P2;

"If 4D was actually sincere about the above statement then you would think that he would have responded by accompanying the AAA MR with a presser from his own office?? But for some reason that didn't occur".

Very good pick up P2. Well done. Pollies love positive Pressers. Perhaps he saw that there was a risk he may have to shelve out money, hence his forgoing some PR? Or maybe he was busy at the hair salon that day getting his todger trimmed and primed for another men's urinal selfie shot? And that's about the truth of it isn't it? This der-brain Politician hasn't got a clue. He accepts a report, shakes someone's hand, twerps it out on Twatter (probably along with a photo of his perfect hair and manscaped body), files the report on Barmyboys top shelf under the heading 'More IOS Complaints' and leaves it there to gather dust for the next half a century.

The big book of none answers.

P2 ...”makes you want to vomit because it is pure unadulterated bollocks...”

Not just wanted to – bloody well near did.  New rule – I ain’t going to read any more ministerial responses to serious reports. Not worth the time, effort or aggravation.  So ducking predictable; there must be a big book, tucked away somewhere for idiot Polly’s. The big book of PC none answers. Published as ‘How to tell lies, do nothing and get away with it’.

Minion – “Minister, Sir; sorry to interrupt your stylist, but the peasants are revolting”.

Minister - (languid like) “Yes, they are; (yawn) what is it this time?

Minion – “That airport crowd have produced another report; it is factual and it seems the aerodrome infrastructure is collapsing around the aviation industries ears; its serious I’m afraid”.

Minister – “Look here Minion, I can’t have my stylist disturbed every time there is another aviation crisis; this is a very expensive, sensitive artist here, making sure that every single hair is immaculate, and the tailor is going to be late; I may get photographed later (or do it myself); this is important stuff, my image must be preserved”. (Sigh).

Minion – “ I am aware of that Sir; but, this does seem to require a response; in fact it seems quite urgent, there’s a fair few of ‘em in the lobby and they seem a little irate”.

Minister – (snaps irritated) “Just look in the ducking big book; the airports page is just before assholes; look down the index, find the nearest listed complaint to the latest; go to that page and print out the ‘official’ response; get that to the media people and make sure they use the picture of me looking appropriately concerned; then distribute it”.  Got that?. Good, now bugger off – I am really busy here.

Minion – “Yes Sir; Oh, I love it when you get all decisive, may I take your picture for my children?”

Minister – (bored) I suppose so, but make sure you get my best side.

How many more of these say nothing, time buying, trite, work-shopped answers do we have to read through? FFS these clowns are just doing a little as possible, ensuring they rock no boats; biding their time until the next election, making sure that the indecent pension and perks increase. It is absolutely ducking disgusting.

Toot, toot – bloody toot.

Absolutely spot on GD, TB & Ferryman, except I'd expand on the title somewhat...

  ...none answers for morally & financially bankrupt governments...

While on airports compare the above word weaselled response from WOFTAM 4D, to his response to a good news story that the government does not have to shell out for - :

Wellcamp venture is takeoff ready
12:00amMITCHELL BINGEMANN
Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport got a boost to its ­aspirations yesterday, winning approval for more overseas flights.

Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport got a boost to its international ­aspirations yesterday with the federal government granting ­approvals allowing overseas airlines to operate with unrestricted frequency out of the fast-growing hub near Toowoomba.

The change in classification to a regional international gateway, announced by Transport Minister Darren Chester, means the airport is no longer bound by ­restrictions governing inter­national passenger services.

“This is great for us because it removes the red tape and uncertainty about what international airlines can do out of Wellcamp,” airport chairman John Wagner said. “It means we will be able to pursue some international business ... both freight and passenger services. It’s also a big step in telling international and domestic airlines we are open for business.”

Mr Wagner, of Toowoomba-based construction and logistics company Wagners, said it would probably be at least a year before international passenger services operated, but they would definitely happen.

He suggested the first links would be to China and Vietnam.

The official designation comes less than a month after the privately funded airport launched its first international passenger flight, carrying about 200 passengers on a trade mission to China.

The airport, built by the Wagner family on an old quarry, opened in 2014 with a QantasLink service to Sydney. Since then, flights to Cairns, Melbourne and Townsville have been added by Airnorth.

Cathay Pacific will begin weekly international freight flights on November 22.

Wellcamp Airport granted regional international gateway status
November 11, 2016 by australianaviation.com.au 6 Comments

Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport has officially been designated as an international airport ahead of regular freighter services beginning later in November. The official designation as a regional international gateway was made on Friday, paving the way for more overseas flights from the airport located just … [Read more...]

..Being a regional international airport means foreign carriers are able to operate to and from Wellcamp without any capacity restrictions under Australia’s bilateral air services agreements, Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said in a statement on Friday...

Meanwhile down the road at Oakey and coming to a run-down airport near you,
reference AAA's full & frank submission (in particular pages 7-9 for Govt obfuscation trail) to PFOS Part B Senate Inquiry  :

5 February

Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee

Senate Inquiry into Contamination of Commonwealth, State and Territory sites in Australia (Part B)

..Over the following seven months (July 2014 – February 2015) the AAA continued to consult closely with our members on their discussions with Airservices and Commonwealth agencies in relation to how this issue would be resolved. Over this period it became apparent that there was another significant obstacle that was impeding progress – a lack of Commonwealth Departmental leadership or ownership for developing a solution...

Then compare that to the management of the trough feeding government monopoly Airservices Australia and you get a real impression of how little regard the political elite and bureaucracy have for the silent majority of citizens in this country;

Or reference the yet to be completed CASA 30+ year, $300+million, isolationist regulatory reform program that is still crippling the sustainability & growth of large sectors of the industry;

Or reference the 89.9 million pot of money the ATSB was given to fund and manage a far too narrowly scoped MH370 SIO search, yet Hoodlum begs poor in the recent ATSB AR:

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will scale back its non-fatal accident investigations. (AAP)

The chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has outlined plans to constrain the scope of non-fatal air investigations.
Source:
AAP
20 Oct 2016 - 11:10 AM  UPDATED 20 Oct 2016 - 11:10 AM

The government agency overseeing air safety in Australia says it will have to scale back the number of non-fatal accidents it investigates because of limited resources.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Greg Hood says his organisation will continue to investigate most accidents and serious incidents involving the travelling public.

But he wants to be more efficient, by becoming more "data-driven".

In so doing, the bureau will be able to more selectively allocate its limited resources to investigating those accidents and incidents that have the greatest potential for improving safety, Mr Hood writes in the ATSB's annual report.

"If there is no obvious public safety benefit to investigating an accident, the ATSB is less likely to conduct a complex, resource-intensive investigation."

Mr Hood says the bureau endeavours to investigate all fatal accidents involving VH-registered powered aircraft in Australia subject to the resources available and what can be learnt from the incident.

"But we will need to carefully consider the resources we allocate to investigations into general aviation fatal accidents and constrain the scope of investigations into non-fatal accidents in this sector," he writes.

There were not many safety benefits in investigating incidents which have obvious contributing factors, such as unauthorised low-level flying or visibly flying into poor weather.

"Instead, educating pilots on the dangers of high-risk activity is where we will refocus our efforts, with an emphasis on using social media."

Mr Hood says technology is already having an influence on his bureau's work, especially given the use of drones.

He notes pizza delivery using the technology is reportedly imminent

However there is a solution to all this that would top up the aviation coffers and do away with the trough feeding parasites. Reference a comment by 'a snivelling, miserable coward' from UK online publication 'the Register':

50 tech jobs to go at AirServices Australia

AirServices Australia is set to axe around 50 jobs across its IT department as part of sweeping cuts that could see 900 positions cut. The cuts are part of the Accelerate program, the ABC reports, and have raised concerns of safety from pilots and AirServices air traffic controllers. AirServices was not immediately available …

Something's not right.


According to an ASA PR droid, "...would only affect back office and technical staff."
Umm, clerical types aside (and they're no less important) but the 'technical staff' are those that keep the stuff running so the controllers can do their jobs.

They say that they're about to pull the plug on 22%
of their existing staff, so either:-

a) ASA management were asleep at the wheel and allowed the staffing to get totally out of hand over the last x years so they are presently severely overstaffed and need to be cut, or
b) There's going to be a significant reduction in service and system reliability if you pull that number of 'support' / tech staff.

Given that of the 4000 employees, 1000 are controllers who are supposedly 'quarantined' from the cuts, this really means that they're cutting 900 from the remaining 3000 employees, or 30% of the remaining staff.

With a great amount of regret, I can foresee services, and therefore safety, being impacted by radar / radio / IT / etc failures which will be put down to "lack of support staff" when it happens (and I suspect it will happen).

Either way, ASA management have some explaining to do.

AC for much the same reason as the previous poster.

---

Re: Something's not right.
Perhaps they're getting the whole thing ready to be privatized?

ASA and quite a few of its previous incarnations at least as far back as the early '90s have looked at Canada as a similar ATC situation to the one we have here - turn Oz 90° clockwise and you'll see the similarity. Melbourne/Cairns is quite a lot like Vancouver/Ottawa. Most of the high density traffic runs along one rather long edge with lots of nothing elsewhere (sorry, Perth).

Canada turned private in 1996 as Nav Canada, a privately run, not-for-profit corporation. They have gained a great reputation for themselves. This quote is from Forbes.com in Feb this year:-

Nav Canada runs one of the safest systems in the world, and it has won three International Air Transport Association (IATA) Eagle Awards as the world’s best ATC provider. Nav Canada is a “global leader in delivering top-class performance,” says the IATA. Nav Canada has developed new technologies that it exports around the world.
Remember when Australia was a leader in world aviation circles?

The UK turned private in 2000 as NATS, a public-private partnership involving the government (49%) and others. My spies tell me that they don't think much has changed there, despite the privatisation.

If we did go private, we could do worse than look at the Canadian system.

AC as seems to be the tradition here...

 
But that won't happen too much political risk for poor old Dazzling Dazza & Barnbaby in such ridiculous proposals - FDS...


MTF...P2