[Peetwo]

Dear H&H - L&Ks Dick...  

Via the Oz today:

Smith gifts $1m to charity
12:00amSIMON KING
Dick Smith will give $1mn to charity out of frustration with his plan to recreate a historic air race.

...Such is Mr Smith’s disappointment that he will give the $1m he had earmarked for the air race — which would have used electric planes in the recreation to spark a new round of innovation — to the Rotary Australia Benevolent ­Society.

“I’m incredibly disappointed,” he told The Australian.

In 1919, Australian prime minister Billy Hughes offered £10,000 to the first aircrew to reach Darwin from London.

“Back in 1919, people had no idea the planes that were used in World War I could actually do long distances,” Mr Smith said.

“Billy Hughes came up with the original idea and it was the start of long-distance air travel.

“I thought wouldn’t it be great if 100 years later we did it with electrically powered planes.

“It would be all about inno­vation because electrically powered aircraft can do about 300 nautical miles (now) and you need about 500. It would mean you have three years to extend the boundaries; innovate to get better storage. Which would help every bit of alternative energy.”

Mr Smith said he encountered the same problem in all his aviation dealings with government: “Nobody makes a decision.”

He said he had mentioned the project directly to Malcolm Turnbull and then wrote to the Minister for Innovation, Greg Hunt. “I can’t even remember his name he’s so dynamic — but I wrote to him and he didn’t commit himself to anything.

“At one stage they said, ‘What do you want?’ and I said, ‘It would be great if you match the money but you don’t have to, just come with some enthusiasm for it’. But I got nothing.”

Mr Smith said the aviation community had been overwhelmingly supportive of the idea. “But no doubt the minister would have been advised, ‘Oh minister small planes crash, I wouldn’t suggest you get involved with this.’

“They are so risk-averse and so politically correct — even with Dick Smith on side putting the money in, they couldn’t bring themselves to support it.

“So I’m giving a breakfast talk ... at the Rotary Club of Wahroonga and then I’ll hand $1m to them.”

Yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Hunt maintained that his department’s lack of involvement was a financial issue: “We respect his initiative, but the government can’t fund every proposal for using taxpayer’s money,” the spokesman said.

“We’d be very happy for Mr Smith to provide his own funds rather than calling on taxpaying Australian families There is no barrier to Mr Smith paying for this himself.”...

...The donation is part of more than $4.1m Mr Smith is giving to charities and organisations from the sale of his Cessna Citation aircraft. He sold the plane in disgust at ever-increasing maintenance costs caused, he said, by years of industry mismanagement by both major political parties through the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. “Every time you blink, CASA comes up with a more expensive equipment to be fitted to your plane,” he said....

Continuing on the Dick Smith donation trail, from the sale of his Citation jet, I love the audacity and simple irony in the following story via Oz Flying..
 

Dick Smith has sent a $160,000 cheque to Airservices Australia to fund a system of web cams around the country. (Steve Hitchen)

Dick Smith sends Airservices Money for Weather Cams
7 December 2016

Aviation activist and entrepreneur Dick Smith today posted a $160,000 cheque to Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield to fund a network of weather cameras to be positioned around Australia.

Smith has allocated the funds from the sale of his Citation jet in the USA, and wants Airservices to set up a network similar to that run by NavCanada, which enables pilots to log into their website and see real-time weather conditions around the country.

"I believe one of the most important causes is to try to get a weather cam network as they have in Canada and Alaska," Smith says in the covering letter send to Harfield.

"I have spoken to people [in Canada] and they are very enthusiastic about the great safety advantage provided by the weather cams, and also the fact that because NavCanada has infrastructure on the ground, in many places they can provide the cameras at minimum installation costs.

"I really hope you will take this letter and cheque with the goodwill that is intended and find a way to go ahead and improve aviation safety in this important issue."

Smith told Australian Flying that he had originally offered the money to CASA based on the Alaskan system, which is run by the Federal Aviation Administration, but that CASA turned down the offer.

NavCanada has hundreds of weather cams covering the country. The network is accessed through the NavCanada weather website.

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...6CloPzu.99

Luv your work Dick - (Ps Choc Frog is in the mail)

MTF...P2

Ps For Dick's benefit on an update of the FER KPMG report involving ASA, I note the following AQON from M&M:

Division/Agency: Corporate Services
Topic: Functional and Efficiency Review
Proof Hansard Page: Written (27 October 2016)

Senator Sterle, Glenn asked:

At the previous Estimates in May the Secretary outlined some of the recommendations of the Functional & Efficiency Review conducted into the Department by KPMG:

Can you update on what has happened with that review since May?
Are you able to indicate if Cabinet has concluded its consideration of the report?
Have any of the 18 recommendations referred to last time been accepted by Government?
If yes,
which ones?
do any recommend outsourcing of existing Departmental functions? Details?
do any recommend insourcing of existing outsourced functions?
What has happened with the Airservices recommendations?
Are there any recommendations that relate to the Australian Rail Track Corporation?
If yes, do any relate to changed ownership structures? Details?
Are there any recommendations that relate to Infrastructure Australia?
If yes, does that relate to the governance structure of IA?
What other recommendations are there?
What is the expected timeframe around decisions by Government from this review?

Answer:

The report of the Functional and Efficiency Review of the portfolio is with the Government, and will be considered by Cabinet in the context of the 2017/18 budget.

Given this status, it is not appropriate to comment at this stage on the recommendations contained in the review.

So no copy yet and as usual the Turnbull government is procrastinating -