Aviation law reform is as unpopular with Government as prison reform and for exactly the same reason; there are no votes in it.
- Change the rules on sentencing and parole making it easier for a prisoner to receive and you know what happens? That’s right, the next time a parolee reoffends, the media crucifies the Minister for being soft on crime.
Criminal justice advocates can present logical argument and evidence backed by research and statistics till they are blue in the face but they are always confounded by the unchallengeable logic of the stupid: “if Joe Bloggs was still in jail he couldna dunnit coodie?”
….So you can present all the logical, rational, evidence based, peer reviewed, rolled gold reasons for aviation reform you like; the Minister knows that the next crash after the reforms will be blamed on HIM for relaxing the rules. Do you think the Murdoch press is going to write scholarly think pieces about how good the new rules are and that nobody could reasonably blame the Minister next time a Cessna crashes into a family home? Get real.
The only way to get fast and comprehensive aviation regulation reform is to make that timid, easily scared, cowardly character - the politician, more scared of the aviation community than of the general public. The only way to do that is through the ballot box. The Aviation community, all of it, should tell Government that not only will they not receive a single vote from them but they will actively work in every marginal seat in Australia to prevent the re-election of their members. Don’t be squeamish about this. It matters not who we support instead, it could be a raving communist for all we care because if the present situation persists, the outcome is the same either way.
To put that another way. While Aviation reform, like prison reform, will not get the Government any more votes long term, we need to ensure that they will lose even more votes, in strategically important locations, at the next election if they don’t reform now.
- Change the rules on sentencing and parole making it easier for a prisoner to receive and you know what happens? That’s right, the next time a parolee reoffends, the media crucifies the Minister for being soft on crime.
Criminal justice advocates can present logical argument and evidence backed by research and statistics till they are blue in the face but they are always confounded by the unchallengeable logic of the stupid: “if Joe Bloggs was still in jail he couldna dunnit coodie?”
….So you can present all the logical, rational, evidence based, peer reviewed, rolled gold reasons for aviation reform you like; the Minister knows that the next crash after the reforms will be blamed on HIM for relaxing the rules. Do you think the Murdoch press is going to write scholarly think pieces about how good the new rules are and that nobody could reasonably blame the Minister next time a Cessna crashes into a family home? Get real.
The only way to get fast and comprehensive aviation regulation reform is to make that timid, easily scared, cowardly character - the politician, more scared of the aviation community than of the general public. The only way to do that is through the ballot box. The Aviation community, all of it, should tell Government that not only will they not receive a single vote from them but they will actively work in every marginal seat in Australia to prevent the re-election of their members. Don’t be squeamish about this. It matters not who we support instead, it could be a raving communist for all we care because if the present situation persists, the outcome is the same either way.
To put that another way. While Aviation reform, like prison reform, will not get the Government any more votes long term, we need to ensure that they will lose even more votes, in strategically important locations, at the next election if they don’t reform now.