Darren Cheeseman Speech on -Civil Aviation Amendment Bill 2009
Wednesday, 22 April 2009 05:25
Mr Speaker, the Bill before us, the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill, is important in its detail but also important when you step back from it and look at it in context. It’s also important for my own electorate.
I’ll get to the detail in a minute Mr Speaker but first of all let’s look at the context.
I think the context is that it shows just how much attention we give to detail in our airline industry Mr Speaker.
In Australia we are constantly trying to improve and refine our aviation industry.
We are constantly trying to make it safer.
We are constantly trying to make it more efficient.
We are vigilant about improving regulation and governance arrangement in the industry. And so we should be! Obviously, this is an industry with risks.
I think if you sit back and look at this Bill in context for a minute, a just says a little about our whole approach to aviation.
It says we have the very healthy attitude that we can always do better.
We are constantly searching for excellence in the running of this industry. That’s certainly what this Government is about.
Mr Speaker, I think if you look at the attitudes behind this Bill, it tells you why Australia has one of the safest and most efficient aviation industries in the world.
I just want to put that on the record Mr Speaker. I’m proud of the Australian aviation industry’s record, particularly on safety.
So, I’ll just go to some of the detail of this Bill Mr Speaker.
The Civil Aviation Amendment Bill 2009 puts in place the Government’s National Aviation Policy Green Paper commitment.
This commitment was about establishing a Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Board and enhancing CASA’s ability to take critical additional actions around safety.
The Board that is being established will be a small expert Board, responsible for CASA’s strategic oversight. We will have the best in the business on this Board, with an appropriate mix of high-level skills.
It will support the Director of Aviation Safety in managing CASA and the Director will retain responsibility for day-to-day decision-making.
There’s a number of things in this Bill that will help CASA’s ability to take necessary safety action.
Included are measures:
• extending CASA’s powers to regulate foreign operators,
• amending the automatic stay provisions in relation to CASA’s power to prevent an unsafe operator from flying, and
• bringing CASA’s investigation powers into alignment with the Criminal Code.
Mr. Speaker, this Bill will further enhance CASA’s governance arrangements.
The CASA Board is not intended to represent “sectional” interests of the aviation industry Mr speaker.
It will be, as I said, a high level, very skilled and knowledgeable, strategic body. It will not be directly involved in the day to day activities of the Authority.
Whilst to a certain extent these roles are undertaken today, this structure very much clarifies the situation. There will be a very clear governance structure now.
The Director will manage CASA under the Board’s strategic guidance and will be responsible to the Board.
Another important aspect of this Bill is in what is termed “Automatic stay provisions” Mr Speaker.
In the past, I believe CASA has been a bit hamstrung by “Automatic stay” provision, which nullified CASA’s ability to suspe
Mr. Speaker, without naming names, in my electorate, we have had at least one operator that I believe has taken enormous risks. I would go so far as saying this operator defines the word shonky.
Passengers, pilots and the public were all put at risk by this operator, who was expert in using legal loopholes to continue with a very dubious operation.
CASA had a lot of difficulty dealing with this operator, and taking the decisive action necessary due to regulatory difficulties. I think the new regulation will help CASA deal with these types of outfits.
Amendments in this Bill are proposed to the automatic stay provisions to ensure any extension beyond 5 days of a CASA decision to vary, suspend or cancel certain civil aviation authorisations is the result of an application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a stay, and the AAT's determination of that application.
The effect of this amendment would be to ensure that important safety-related implications of permitting a stay to continue beyond a 5-day period only occur if a stay order from the AAT is sought. This would minimise any incentive, on the part of civil aviation authorisation holders or other affected persons, to unreasonably delay a determination of the matter on the merits by the AAT.
I think that’s a big step forward Mr Speaker.
The other important aspect of this Bill is regulatory oversight of foreign-based operators.
The Bill strengthens CASA’s regulatory oversight of foreign-based operators flying to Australia and ensures that CASA will have the ability to satisfy itself that all operators flying into Australia are receiving adequate safety oversight outside Australia. That’s a crucial power Mr Speaker.
This is obviously a difficult area, and one which will need ongoing close monitoring to see whether these regulatory changes actually achieve what we want here.
What the changes in this area do is allow CASA to take a broader range of issues into account when considering whether to allow a foreign operator to fly into Australia.
It enables CASA to take greater account of both the conduct of air operators in their home and other jurisdictions, as well as the level of safety oversight provided by civil aviation authorities in other countries.
Another big step forward Mr Speaker.
The other major aspect of this Bill is about carrying dangerous good.
The Bill closes a loophole that controls the carriage of dangerous goods on board an aircraft.
This is a major safety issue Mr Speaker.
The inclusion of an offence for the negligent carriage or consignment of these goods makes sure any lack of care by carriers and consignors is addressed.
Finally, Mr Speaker, when we are talking aviation industry and there is a politician from the Geelong Region speaking on this issue, you might expect some of the detail will be related to the establishment and development of the Avalon airport.
I’ll get to how the detail of this Bill relates to Avalon Mr Speaker but first I would again like to put on the public record the importance of Avalon.
As you are probably aware Mr Speaker, the future development of the Avalon airport, both for domestic aviation and potentially for international carriers, is crucial to the future of our region.
It is crucial for tourism operators who are already one of the major drivers of our economy, particularly due to the Great Ocean Road. If Avalon is opened up to international carriers, tourism will go to a whole new level in our region, Mr. Speaker. Thousands more people will be employed in tourism if Avalon goes international Mr. Speaker.
There is nothing that is more significant to tourism in our region than the future of Avalon, Mr Speaker.
Avalon is also important to a range of other industries, particularly top industries trading overseas and high tech industries, because goods can be brought in or exported so much faster and more efficiently.
Mr Speaker, what happens to Avalon will have a big bearing on our region’s whole future.
I think all Ministers in this Government are now aware of this.
And this Bill, I believe, is another little step in the future development of Avalon.
Mr. Speaker, one of the key issues with the future development of Avalon is security. Avalon, if it is opened up to the world, will become another part of the Australian border.
This Bill, by degree, improves security by providing better governance arrangements in our aviation industry. It makes the governance of our aviation industry more robust, safer and more secure.
The Bill also gives us greater control over foreign airline operators. Mr. Speaker, this will surely also add to the confidence we can have in security. Of course, the nature of the activities we are dealing with in not decisive in security but it is another part in having confidence in the overall system.
Mr Speaker, The Civil Aviation Amendment Bill shows this Government’s commitment to aviation safety.
Thank you Mr. Speaker.
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