To the RARAAT Committee

Parliament House

Canberra

 

cc Hon John Anderson MP

     Mr Martin Ferguson AM MP

     Senator Meg Lees

     Air Safety Australia

    

     

RE: TRANSPORT SAFETY INVESTIGATION BILL 2002

 

 

21 October 2002

 

 

Members

 

I am very unhappy with the current legislation in front of Parliament. Though I know that the ATSB were intending it to be an improvement, it is another case of it not being effectively put to the industry for consultation. I note the emphasis on effective, as it would appear that ATSB would argue that they did consult industry, but as the end product is causing a lot of consternation, it cannot be considered effective.

 

I do however, commend the effort being made to updating the legislation and would argue only that intervention from the industry be interpreted as healthy and a method of shaping the bill in a way that improves it.

 

I oppose this legislation in its current format and would propose the following 2 points as amendments that would make it acceptable t me personally. I am sure that there may be further amendments that other entities may wish to move, and I would commend there consideration to all of you.

 

  1. Part 49 permits an OBR to be declared not an OBR and therefore not protected under other aspects of this legislation (Part 55) in relation to the use of the contents against crewmembers. Cockpit Voice Recorders were installed with the participation of the crewmembers on the basis that the contents could not be used against them personally. The contents were only to be used by accident or incident investigators with a view to determining the cause of the accident or incident so as to permit learning or legislation in the aviation community that would prevent such an accident or incident in the future.

 

By declaring part or all of an OBR as not being an OBR would then remove the protection provided by Part 55 and then open the possibility of the OBR being used against crew in a criminal court. This is unacceptable.

 

I would want Part 49 deleted in total or changed such that all parts of an OBR are always protected by Part 55 and that no person has the ability to change the status of an OBR in any way that removes the protection of Part 55.

 

 

  1. I further oppose any ability of the ATSB (or CASA) to search without a warrant. In this current world, there is always an ability to obtain a warrant quickly should there be shown sufficient cause. I am tired of the aviation community being subject to processes that would be unacceptable in all other forms of civil or criminal law.

 

THIS MUST STOP.

 

Should there be shown a need to gain entry, then a warrant can be obtained quite quickly. Make the ATSB & CASA go through the normal processes in what I call ‘normal law’, and it will stop everyone wasting time and resources. There are sufficient powers given to the ATSB and CASA to stop aircraft operations should there be concern, and that is all that is required to protect the immediate public interest. Once aircraft operations are stopped, then all future actions should be in accordance with ‘normal law’.

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Airline Transport Licence Holder

Current Major Airline Captain

Current General Aviation Pilot

Owner of 6 General Aviation Aircraft

 

Fax (02) 9818 1162

pboughen@bigpond.com