– Steve Hitchen
We really didn't need a statistician to tell us that records were set on the trade days at Avalon; anyone who slalomed their way through the moving crowd in the expo halls or battled their way to the pop-up bar at the socialising events could have told you that. At the beginning of Day One, some of the first-time exhibitors, some from overseas, were wondering where the punters were; if such paucity of people was normal for Avalon. It was the calm before the storm. By about midday the flood of people was so great there wasn't much time for the exhibtors to sit and wonder about anything. But it wasn't just the number of feet on the ground that was pleasing. Exhibitors were getting excited about the quality of the punters as well. People weren't there simply to press all the buttons, kick the tyres and take selfies; they were there to talk serious business with serious proposals, returning value to the exhibitors that invest a lot of money simply being at Avalon. If there was any complaint, it was based around the general public being let into the grounds at 11:30 am on the Friday. In previous years, the trade had the grounds to themselves up until 2:30 pm. It's very hard to concentrate securing a deal or exchanging market intel when you're distracted with so many people swarming across the stands wide-eyed in wonder. Although it will do aviation no good to be seen as an elitest group that is hard to engage with, perhaps the industry just needs a bit more time to itself on the Friday.
Right. That's done. The consulation period on the Terms of Reference for the aviation white paper closes today, and hopefully soon we can get on with the job. Whether or not you're an advocate for another white paper (I am not), the Federal Government is determined this is the best way forward. Having finally resigned itself to the inevitable, the aviation community now wants to get on with the job and was rightly annoyed at a consulation period for the Terms of Reference, something no-one I spoke with can remember ever having before. The industry is teetering on the brink of disengagement, worried over two main concerns: that the white paper will provide no meaningful outcomes, and during the process the government will shun any attempts at change until the paper is complete. The timetable has the green paper arriving in the middle of this year with the white version released in the first half of 2024. Then, it will be two years since the ALP came to power marching behind a banner made of aviation white paper. That's too long. Problems like a lack of maintenance engineers will be far worse in mid 2024 and any countering measures proposed at that time will be well behind a problem that is spiralling out of control. Although the ALP can sit back and wait for the white paper to propose solutions, the GA community cannot, and we need to refuse to accept the long wait for salvation and keep the Federal Government under the pump.
AOPA Australia looks like it is starting to emerge from its bout of long COVID. More than any other association, AOPA was hit hard by the pandemic and had to all but put up the white flag. They kept in touch where they could, but most activities had to be shelved until the organisation was ready to reconnect with the aviation community. Re-instating the newsletter, setting up member meetings based on states and appointing a new secretary to help out are all steps forward. But is that enough to bring back the members? The last reported membership figure was 1300, showing a constant decline over several years. The first challenge facing the board will be to arrest that number, then start to grow the membership again. The fewer people represented by an organisation, the more governments doubt the organisation represents the true aims and opinions of the broader industry sector. That's not good for GA and needs to be corrected, but only a returning membership base can do that.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch