[Peetwo]

Politics & the inconvenience of internet public record??

While researching for the latest update to the 'Wong QON' series -
&.. WONG QON III - & her one & only appearance at RRAT Estimates last year...

Wong muck raking & the GRABOR Party -

P9 - I could live with the window dressing of Cash, the bad manners displayed and endless side chats while questions were being asked etc.  No more than a minor irritation, some others came in and asked some fairly pointless questions, which, thankfully, took little of the valuable time available and were not blatantly ‘political’.  But the tedious Wong session took the biscuit.

 
And that was before I discovered the Wong QON - Part I & Part II.     

Pps At the request of the Ferryman...

Here is the Hansard:

24 February 2015 (HTML & PDF)

Infrastructure and Regional Development

The OBS here is that if Wong was so 'enraged' by the possibility that South Australian ATCOs may lose their jobs, then you would of thought the Senator would have put many more written QON to ASA? Perhaps she discovered the amount of political muck raking she could cause was negligible and so she gave it up. She certainly didn't follow up the issue in any RRAT Estimates since..     

...I discovered a further aberration to the Wong (& therefore Labor) defence of potential loss of South Australian ATCO jobs at Adelaide airport:

Senator WONG: When did the briefing of Mr Williams occur—not Senator Williams but the member for Hindmarsh? When did that occur, approximately?


Ms Staib : It was leading up to the board meeting.

Senator WONG: So it was prior to the meeting. Did he ask you not to proceed?

Ms Staib : No, he did not.

Senator WONG: He did not tell you not to proceed?

Ms Staib : No.

Senator WONG: So the local member did not stand up for jobs in the electorate?

Senator EDWARDS: Let's get to the issue.

Senator WONG: Okay. You might not think that is an issue, Senator Edwards, but I think—anyway, I will move on.

& ..

Senator WONG: And if the safety case is not up to scratch, do you not proceed with it?

Ms Staib : If CASA does not accept the safety case, that is correct.

Senator WONG: Well, as a South Australian senator, I am asking you not to proceed with it. So you should be clear, on the record, it is my view and I suspect it is the view of many of my colleagues. We do not want this decision made. We do not want these jobs shifted. We certainly do not what we regard, from what we have been told and what I see the state government saying, something that compromises these arrangements at Adelaide airport.

Senator EDWARDS: Just following on that line of question, is it true that the genesis for this policy actually exists in a previous government? No, the genesis for this is laid dormant but was a policy of a previous government.

Mr Hood : Senator, if I can take that—

Senator EDWARDS: Sorry?

Senator WONG: It is happening under you.

 In an ABC PM segment from the previous year - i.e. June 2014 - the former minister for the oversight of aviation, Albanese was briefly interviewed for comment (in bold) : Concern for passenger safety follows Airservices Aust location merge proposal  

MARK COLVIN: Pilots and air traffic controllers say they fear passenger safety will be at risk if Airservices Australia pushes ahead with a proposal to merge some of its locations.

The ABC has learned of plans to consider removing controllers monitoring airspace in Sydney, Adelaide, and Cairns and 'hub' them in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Science reporter Jake Sturmer has the story.

(Aeroplane engines)

JAKE STURMER: It's July 13, 1995 near Canberra, terrible flying conditions, and at 7,000 feet the engine of the Cessna 210 carrying three people failed.

Instructor pilot Clark Gibbons took charge.

CLARK GIBBONS: I then contacted air traffic control, they gave us headings to steer. I had asked to be put over and land on Lake George.

JAKE STURMER: There was dense cloud on the day, making it virtually impossible to see where they were going.

Clark Gibbons put his faith in air traffic control, which was using radar signals to guide him to what he thought would be a safe landing spot.

CLARK GIBBONS: They then gave us the headings, which then...when we have popped out of the cloud, we've crashed into the side of a hill.

Ten seconds would have been the maximum amount of time we had then from seeing the trees, seeing the hill, having nowhere else to go, we've crashed into the hill.

JAKE STURMER: Clark Gibbons and his other passengers suffered serious burns in the crash.

The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation found that the air traffic controller guiding Clark Gibbons was not familiar with Canberra.

He was based in Melbourne because Airservices Australia consolidated the region's Terminal Control Unit. TCUs, as they're known, look after the airspace for about 60 kilometres around each airport.

Airservices Australia is considering moving its Sydney, Adelaide, and Cairns TCU's into Melbourne and Brisbane.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: This is a proposal that's simply about cost cutting and we shouldn't be cutting costs when it comes to aviation safety.

JAKE STURMER: Labor's Transport Spokesman is Anthony Albanese.

The former Transport Minister's western Sydney electorate is near the airport.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Common sense tells you that if you live and work at the actual airport which is Australia's most significant airport, it's the most highly densely populated area of Australia, there's a reason why you want to have the air traffic control around that airport controlled from Sydney airport itself rather than from a remote location in Melbourne or Brisbane.

JAKE STURMER: Airservices Australia raised similar plans around a decade ago, but eventually rejected them because the business case was marginal.

And internal staff discussions obtained by the ABC reveal that controllers have warned managers not to underestimate the benefits of local knowledge and that it could be difficult to get staff to move to the new centres.

In a statement to the ABC, Airservices said no decision had been made and this was a review of all the options available.

It said that centralising operations could improve career development and help remove duplicated infrastructure, equipment, and maintenance. Airservices said that safety was its number one priority.

Peter McGuane from the air traffic controllers' union says they'll be carefully studying the review once it's finished.

PETER MCGUANE: Our concern and our attention will be directed to making sure that all the appropriate areas have been addressed and areas that we identify - in a technical sense and procedures - that all those things are properly done and properly the subject of consultation in a very detailed manner with us.

JAKE STURMER: For Clark Gibbons, who still bears the scars from the crash, consolidation isn't the solution.

CLARK GIBBONS: I'd like them to make sure that their training certainly gave people that were operating a sector a firsthand knowledge of what's there.

MARK COLVIN: Retired pilot Clark Gibbons Jake Sturmer's report.

 
This was despite Albo being supportive of the ASA proposal (by default) throughout his tenure as the minister. This concept had been touted as a future proposal from ASA executive management first in 2001 and then ten years later in 2011:

Senator WONG: In the period 2007 to 2013, was there any work done again exploring the closure of the TCU in Adelaide?

Ms Staib : There was some research done in preparation for the OneSKY program, which we talked about before, and how the organisation would deliver air traffic control services into the future. Was in 2008?

Mr Rodwell : In 2011 there was some—

Ms Staib : In 2011 there was a report done by Deloittes to look at that.

Senator WONG: But no decision was made to close the TCU?

Ms Staib : In 2011?

Senator WONG: Correct.

Ms Staib : No.

Senator WONG: Are you aware what led to the minister and the board—the board ultimately—determining not to proceed with the closure when it was previously attempted?

Ms Staib : I would have to go back and look at the records for that.

Senator WONG: I suggest to you there was quite a campaign run by particular MPs, Mr Georganas and others, about this issue. Do you have any knowledge of that?

Ms Staib : I believe there was activity from politicians and I do believe at the time there was some objection by Civil Air.

Senator WONG: But it is different now, is it?

Ms Staib : Civil Air have stated that they do not believe it is an issue around safety...

    
So when Wong later asks about who in the Parliaments (Federal & SA) was in the loop of the ASA contemplation of the relevant TCUs to be relocated to the Melbourne and Brisbane control centres...

Senator WONG: Please tell me you did not just offer it to government members. Are you going to answer that question?

Ms Staib : It was not just government people. For example, we did brief Mr Albanese.
Senator STERLE: Sorry, Senator Wong, but this is very important. Ms Staib, you said you briefed members of this committee. Which members?
Ms Staib : Senator Heffernan, Williams—
Senator WONG: He is not a member of this committee.
Senator STERLE: So New South Wales. Keep going.
Senator WONG: Oh, Senator Williams?
Ms Staib : Yes.
Senator WONG: Oh, sorry.
Senator STERLE: So two New South Welshmen. Who else?
Ms Staib : Mr Entsch.
Senator STERLE: Queensland. Keep going. He is not on our committee.
Ms Staib : Senator Fawcett.
Senator STERLE: Okay. South Australia. Tick. You have got one out of four. Who else on the committee?
Ms Staib : From my recollection—
Senator STERLE: So it was not members of the committee. They were certain political people and some happened to be on and off this committee.
Ms Staib : We offered a briefing to—
Senator STERLE: The secretary is sitting right here. Secretary, did you? No, he did not.
Senator WONG: He cannot—
Senator STERLE: Ah, it is all the smoke. We all know there was no briefing of this committee.
Senator WONG: Sorry, Ms Staib; you wanted to finish the list.
Ms Staib : We offered a briefing to Senator Xenophon.
Senator XENOPHON: When was that? What date was that?
Ms Staib : It was a period when you were away, Senator.
Senator XENOPHON: I will find out.
Senator WONG: When did the briefing of Mr Williams occur—not Senator Williams but the member for Hindmarsh? When did that occur, approximately?
Ms Staib : It was leading up to the board meeting.

...it would appear that the Opposition spokesperson - Albo - had been kept in the loop well before the ASA board decision. And from the ABC PM program Albo did not appear to have any issues with the possible relocation of affected States ATCO jobs...

One wonders whether the subsequent silence, by first Albo & then by Wong, has something to do with the fact that the ATCO union Civil Air had no issue with the ASA TCU consolidation to two central units.

It will be interesting to see if the Labor pollies acquiesce to a ASA similar proposal for tower ATCOs being moved to either Brisbane or Melbourne? Because from the US that seems to be the way of the future in Air Traffic Control - see HERE & HERE.

Air traffic controllers inside the Remote Tower Centre in Sundsvall, Sweden.

Source: Saab AB


MTF...P2

Ps Note with that future potential proposal who could be one of two future beneficiaries - FFS! 'Safe trough feeding for all Frogs'.

Pps ANAO due to report..

Airservices Australia's Procurement of the International Centre for Complex Project Management to Assist with the OneSKY Australia Project


Report preparation
Contribution has closed
Due to table: May, 2016

Portfolio: Infrastructure and Regional Development
Entity: Airservices Australia

The audit objective is to examine whether Airservices Australia has effective procurement arrangements in place, with a particular emphasis on whether consultancy contracts entered into with International Centre for Complex Project Management (ICCPM) in association with the OneSKY Australia project were effectively administered.