The Aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Business Association (AMROBA) has slammed the system of political policy papers as failing industry participants.
In a communique posted to the AMROBA website, Executive Director Ken Cannane said that many policy papers are either not supported by the aviation community, or are not implemented effectively.
"Ever since government agencies were created (1988) we have seen political parties develop aviation policy papers stating the political party’s aviation policy that they take to an election," Cannane said. "We have seen White Papers, Green Papers, and many other party papers promising all sorts of changes and conclusions for the civil aviation sectors. Some supported, some not.
"Politically, these papers sometime get an aviation sector or two support but it is unusual to have all sectors fully support these proposals, nor do we see the bureaucracy fully enact what are in these political proposals in the following years.
"Since 1988, we have seen multiple political civil aviation policy papers proposing changes, many supported by industry participants, that have not come to fruition for civil aviation participants.
According to Cannane, the problem lies in a discord between political direction and what the bureaucracies make of them.
"These political party civil aviation papers rely on the Minister giving directions to government departments and/or agencies and hoping the bureaucracy makes changes to their systems and recommending regulation changes in accordance with those directions," he believes.
"Over the years, minister after minister has provided directions to the bureaucracy to implement their policies only to see partial implementation of these policies during an election cycle.
"This system has failed aviation participants over the years."
Cannane believes a similar issue doesn't occur in the USA, and changes need to be made here in Australia to make the system work.
"In the US, government pass bills directing the FAA to cancel, amend or make regulations to implement the subject of the bill," he says. "Instead of the Minister’s direction we use, they have bills passed in [congress] directing the FAA to change their regulations and/or processes.
"These changes must happen within the timeframe normally contained in the bill."
Cannane believes that the system in Australia could be fixed by amending the Civil Aviation Act to implement a party’s civil
aviation policies, and converting the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) into a non-corporate Commonwealth entity more directly responsible to the department.
With a week to run until Australia goes to the polls in the 2025 Federal Election, aviation policy is still unclear, particularly from the Coalition, which has not made public any policy relating to aviation.
Repeated approaches to Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Bridget McKenzie from this masthead have not drawn any replies to date.
Predictably, the ALP government is allowing the 2024 Aviation White Paper to stand as policy going forward.