[Peetwo]

TAAAF nobody's April Fool?? - MKIII

Yep Thorny old Murky Mrdak has a lot to answer for...along with Pink Batts; Secondary Airport sell-offs masquerading as lease agreements; (& despite overwhelming industry condemnation of McComic's reign at the helm of CASA) endorsing McCormic for the  nomination of SecGen of ICAO; the list goes on...and on.

However probably Murky's biggest sin is to have overseen & help to perpetuate a 25+ years of regulatory reform at a cost of approx 300 million dollars of taxpayer funds for what?? An almost totally unusable & indecipherable suite of regs that is still not completed and is fast becoming outdated and obsolete, in some cases before they are even enacted.

P7 post - Another Canberra gab fest extravaganza - gives a good summary of the TAAAF concerted effort to garner traction in Canberra but they do need industry backing to keep the issues front & centre..

P7 quote "...Despite the lack of media coverage, some writers try to keep the community informed.  The recent TAAAF forum made some strong, positive statements, reported here by Paul Pheelan @ ProAviation....

....Other industry associations need to fully support these calls by making similar statements and they could (collectively) consider the recent action taken by ALAEA, through Nick Xenophon and the Senate to knock Part 61 out of any reform process and a way to fund such a move..."

Which brings me to the latest TAAAF coverage this time from Dougy:

• Editor's Insights 2 April 2015
  

Forum tells CASA to get efficient first
07 Apr 2015

The Australian Aviation Associations Forum (TAAAF) has responded to a CASA draft Cost Recovery Implementation Strategy (CRIS) by telling the regulator to tighten its belt, become more efficient and review those of its activities that contribute little to aviation safety.
At a time when many aviation industry sectors are suffering a significant economic downturn due to the end of the mining boom, drought in two States and a multi-decade general decline in activity, all parts of the industry have had to tighten their belts and CASA’s regulatory services should not be immune.

On one side sits the Government’s budget predicament, Government’s red tape reduction plan, the Government direction regarding new regulations having to be cost neutral on industry and the Government’s announced adoption of most of the recommendations of the highly critical Forsyth Aviation Review.

In this environment it is not appropriate for CASA to propose some 90 new charges related to the bungled new Part 61 for pilot licensing, and to maintain complex bureaucratic systems that fail to deliver efficiency.

Industry has concerns about the lack of urgency in reform and denial of the Forsyth report criticisms by a cohort of long term managers within CASA.

The new CASA Director of Aviation and the revamped Board are clearly engaged and focused on the challenging job at hand. They should make no mistake as to industry’s hostile reception of the CRIS proposal to simply increase charges before an attempt to improve efficiency.
Unfortunately, the Minister’s critical letter of expectations to CASA is still missing in action and this needs to be remedied urgently. That letter should include a clear direction for CASA to reduce costs, up to and including a reduction in staff.

Participants in the Forum ask Deputy Prime Minister Truss to:

•   Reject the draft Cost Recovery Implementation Strategy (CRIS)
  
•   Refer CASA to the Government directive that new regulations should be cost neutral
  
•   Refer CASA to the Government policy on red tape reduction
  
•   Direct CASA to implement the Government’s response to the Forsyth Report
  
•   Include a direction in his Letter of Expectations that CASA focus on cost reduction before more cost recovery
  
•   Direct CASA to establish a joint industry/CASA taskforce to review all charges and the efficiency of the systems behind them, with a view to eliminating activities and their accompanying charges where they make no contribution to safety. 
  

  
So come on IOS start speaking up...FFS P2