He is effectively asking CASA to do a huge amount of work to do something that simply does not need doing - change our existing, working, user-friendly Aircraft Registration System.
Note especially that the Minister said
"Consultation
The sub-committee is to develop the discussion paper after consulting extensively with the aviation industry and private aircraft owners."
He said that on 8th November 2000. I write this on 5th April 2001. The sub-committee has not, as far as I know, done any consultation whatsoever. It certainly has not consulted extensively, axs the Minister instructed it to do. The Committee has to submit its discussion paper on 27th April - 22 days from now. In between lies the Easter holiday and the Anzac Day holiday.
The Committee obviously took no notice of the Minister's instruction that it was to consult widely.
What happened? Did the Minister give it a nod and a wink and say "Yes, that's what I said but it was just for show. You don't really have to do it."?
Or does the CASA-dominated Committee think the Minister is such a bad manager that he won't follow-up to see that his instructions are being followed?
If there is any other explanation I can't think of it!
|
Towards a New Aircraft Registration System
A165/2000
8th November 2000
The
Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) will
develop a new aircraft registration system in
consultation with the aviation industry, the
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport
and Regional Services, John Anderson, said today.
CASA
will establish a special committee of senior staff
and industry representatives to prepare a
discussion paper on the new system. The committee
will be established under the auspices of CASA's
existing consultation body, the Standards
Consultative Committee. Mr Boyd Munro was invited
to join the committee but has not accepted.
“The
committee will develop an effective, simple system
for registering aircraft, taking into account the
best elements of previous work. One of the
requirements of the new system will be to ensure
that CASA can definitively identify the person or
organisation responsible for making decisions
about the maintenance of an aircraft.
“Many
aircraft owners have argued that their certificate
of registration should constitute proof that they
own their aircraft. They were concerned that a
proposed new registration system, known as Part
47, would have undermined their property rights.
“However,
the current registration system does not provide
proof of ownership either. It ostensibly records
ownership information but it is not checked in any
way. In 1998, the Federal Court judged that a
certificate of registration had no conclusive
legal value in determining the ownership of an
aircraft.
“Accordingly,
the committee will consider whether it would be
desirable to establish a system to provide
conclusive information about aircraft ownership,
or to maintain a list of encumbrances on aircraft.
The cost of the system would be recovered from the
aviation industry.
“The
committee will be required to submit its
discussion paper to the Director of Aviation
Safety by Friday 27 April 2001. The discussion
paper will then be circulated for industry wide
comment,” Mr Anderson said.
The
details of the review committee are attached.
The
review will be conducted by a special sub‑committee
established under the CASA Standards
Consultative Committee (SCC).
The
sub‑committee will be chaired by the
Assistant Director, Aviation Safety Standards,
Mr Richard Yates. The Head of Maintenance
Standards, Mr Ken Cannane will be a member of
the Committee.
The
following organisations are being invited to
contribute a representative to the sub‑committee:
Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Helicopter Association of Australia
Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers
Association
Australian Air Transport Association
Department of Transport and Regional
Services
The
sub‑committee will:
1.
Draft a discussion paper (DP) that sets out an
effective, simple system for registering
aircraft, taking into account the best elements
of previous work. The proposed system must:
•
provide a robust and simple system for
allocating, amending, transferring, and
cancelling aircraft registrations;
•
ensure that CASA can definitively
identify the person or organisation responsible
for making decisions about the maintenance of an
aircraft; and
•
be consistent with Australia's
obligations under the Chicago Convention.
2.
Consider whether it would be desirable to
establish a system to provide conclusive
information about aircraft ownership, or to
maintain a list of encumbered aircraft. The sub‑committee
could consider the following options:
• upgrading the
registration system so aircraft owners could use
it reliably as proof of ownership; or
• establishing a
register of encumbered aircraft (including
identifying who should maintain the register).
3.
Assess the cost of introducing any system proposed
under reference (2), and set out options for
recovering the cost from the aviation industry.
The
sub‑committee is to develop the discussion
paper after consulting extensively with the
aviation industry and private aircraft owners.
The
sub‑committee is required to submit its
discussion paper to the Director of Aviation
Safety by Friday 27 April 2001.
The
discussion paper will be released for industry‑wide
comment, followed by the development of new
regulatory standards by the end of 2001.
8 November 2000