[Peetwo]

Sterlo to call for SI into self-administration aviation? Part II - 

Via the Yaffa: 

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Senate Inquiry looms for Self-administration
10 October 2018

Senator Glenn Sterle last night told Australian Flying that next week he will ask the senate to instigate an inquiry into self-administered aviation.

Sterle said he was keen to have the inquiry and will talk with both the government and Shadow Minister for Transport Anthony Albanese next week.

The move comes after Sterle met with AOPA Executive Director Ben Morgan and Vice President Richard Talbot last month to discuss what AOPA says is inequity in medical standards between CASA and RAAus.

AOPA has also accused CASA of "being influenced into protecting the private business interests of the RAAus, rather than protecting the safety concerns of the greater general aviation community."

Sterle, Labor senator for WA, is the Chair of the Regional and Rural Affairs and Transport (RRAT) References Committee and Deputy Chair of the RRAT Legislation Committee.
RAAus CEO Michael Linke said his organisation would be happy for such an inquiry to go ahead.

"We would welcome and inquiry into the self-administration sector," he said, "and would look forward to sitting in front of the senators to talk about the good work RAAus has done for aviation at large."

Approved Self-administering Aviation Organisations (ASAOs) such as Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus), the Gliding Federation of Australia (GFA) and Australian Warbirds Association Limited (AWAL) are currently the subject of industry consultation under CASR Part 149.

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...CI3DCyI.99

Comment in reply Sandy...

Sandy Reith • 5 hours ago

Thank goodness there’s one MP prepared to look into the administration, more correctly the maladminstration, of aviation in Australia, but the inbuilt problems of a divided approach will go against the best interests of aviation as a whole and particularly General Aviation. The obvious farcical distinctions between RAAus and the rest of GA should not be exacerbated by more layers just to suit CASA. Rather a graduated system should be embraced, a simplified version of the FAA rules would be the starting point. I hope Senator Sterle appreciates that the interlocking interests, career pathways, international recognition for aircraft personnel and engineering norms must be based on ICAO and acceptability to the US and Europe.

Well Sandy it would appear that the good Senator Sterlo has fired up the troops in the Senate RRAT committee, via Oz Flying:

Senate Committee summons Associations
9 November 2018

The Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (RRAT) has called for member associations of the Australian General Aviation Alliance (AGAA) to brief them on medical standards, according to a statement released by AOPA Australia.

The RRAT has asked the associations to brief them at 1.00 pm on Monday 19 November.

Among those summoned are AOPA, the Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Business Association (AMROBA), the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA) and the Gliding Federation of Australia (GFA).

The briefing comes after the Chairman of the RRAT References Committee Senator Glenn Sterle promised to lobby the senate for an inquiry into self-administration in aviation.
"AOPA Australia is seeking an end to the unnecessary CASA dual medical standards," the AOPA statement says, "calling on the government to support universal medical standards for all pilots–RPC, RPL and PPL–regardless of what association you are part of.
"It's time to end the unfair and unjustified discrimination of CASA regulated pilots."
The major stumbling block to a self-certified medical system for RPLs and PPLs is thought to be access to controlled airspace, which has not been granted to holders of RPCs.

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...3OpGFVG.99

  
Again , after this week's LMH, I am not exactly sure which team SH is batting for but at least his OP is a bit more balanced on the KC and AMROBA call for a Parliamentary resolution to support aviation regulation reform (ref: http://www.auntypru.com/forum/thread-117...ml#pid9513 )...  

...After years of failure to get meaningful reform from regulators, it was inevitable that general aviation would move to find allies within politics. A sensible strategy if you get it right. If you get it wrong it has parallels with poking black bears with short sticks. Authorities, bureaus and boards that governments empower to regulate or control cherish that power and guard it very closely. In many instances, the bureaucrats that populate these entities have to have more political savvy than they do expertise in the area they govern. That's where the GA industry is on the back foot: we have plenty of expertise in aviation, but are a bit short on political nous. Who has the power in these battles will depend on the terms of engagement. Are we fighting the battle using aviation smarts or political nous? Given that senators are politicans and not aviators (there are a few who are both), this battle is likely to be fought on political ground, which hands the advantage over to the bureaucrats. GA's best chance is to head-up the charge with someone who knows politics, can articulate well the GA case and, perhaps above all, is respected by both the bureaucrats and the politicians. There are such champions within aviation, but it is the nature of the industry that they generally find themselves time-poor, or fear the sting in the tail of CASA in the form of regulatory retribution. When AGAA goes before the Senate RRAT committee on 19 November, they will need to do so with professionalism and integrity; this will not be the moment for emotional rhetoric that will likely fail to encourage the senators to investigate further. And the argument will need to be clear, concise and be tempered against the holes that CASA is likely to want to poke in it. Failure on either of these matters will severly damage the integrity of GA in the eyes of the senate. Political skin is rarely risked unless the case compels.

"..it would be thrown under the political bus faster than Malcolm Turnbull was.."

Ken Cannane's call for a Parliamentary Resolution to support aviation regulation reform is one of the year's most intriguing propositions. Parliamentary Resolutions are two-faced creatures that can be powerful or impotent depending on whether or not they are binding or non-binding. Binding resolutions are tantamount to law; non-binding ones have the potency of a straw poll. Any resolution about aviation that is non-binding won't have the desired impact that the campaign behind it desires. A classic case was the US non-binding resolution to support a democratic Taiwan: any binding resolution would have angried-up the Chinese. This way, the US can always forget the whole thing if it becomes expedient to do so. The same would be true of a non-binding resolution to support general aviation in Australia; should it become awkward it would be thrown under the political bus faster than Malcolm Turnbull was. Australian politics has historically been a case-study in how to be wishy-washy; how to appear to champion a cause without committing yourself to it, so a binding resolution on aviation reform might just be too affirmative for an amorphous political enviroment such as the current House of Representatives. However, a call for a binding resolution can have the effect of calling a bluff: if our elected representatives who assure us they are all for reform are serious, then what legitimate excuse can they have for not wanting to be bound by their rhetoric?


It is very pleasing to see that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has named their new media studio after Macarthur Job. Mac Job was a passionate stalwart of aviation journalism and aviation safety for decades. A man who had the respect of just about everyone who encountered him, Mac's opinion on aviation was held in higher regard that perhaps anyone else in the country. It is not for nothing that Mac is the only aviation journalist inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame. Mac's legacy to Australia was already extensive, and now the ATSB has properly honoured the one man who managed to straddle the dual roles of journalist and regulator better than anyone ever has.


May your gauges always be in the green,


Hitch

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/the-l...97wGQpR.99

 
Hmm...it would seem that Sterlo & crew are keen to get something? happening before the dissolution of the 45th Parliament, perhaps there is a bi-partisan need to try to resolve these aviation issues because the politics could get messy if they don't - just saying...


MTF...P2 

Ps Although it is good gesture by the ATSB to honour Macarthur Job, I'm starting to get a bit cynical about the repeated attempts by Hood to ingratiate himself with the Australian aviation safety community...