[Peetwo]

The current clusterduck that is the ATSB - where it all began?? -

IMHO the total dysfunctionality that is our current National Transport Safety Investigator, harks back to when Albo legislated the ATSB as an independent statutory authority.

Courtesy the 'Outline' of the TRANSPORT SAFETY INVESTIGATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2009:

The Transport Safety Investigation Amendment Bill 2009 (the Bill) will amend the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) to establish the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) as a Statutory Agency within the meaning of the Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act).  The Agency will be established with a Commission structure and come into being on 1 July 2009.

In 2007 Mr Russell Miller AM was tasked by the then Government to review the relationship between the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and the ATSB.  In finding there was room for improvement in the way the agencies interact, Mr Miller addressed the ATSB’s governance structure.  Mr Miller recommended that the Australian Government move to clarify the ATSB’s independence as the national safety investigation agency.  The Australian Government accepted this key recommendation, which received strong support from industry, and addressed it in the National Aviation Policy Green Paper (2 December 2008).

Investigations that are independent of the parties involved in an accident, transport regulators and government policy makers, are better positioned to avoid conflicts of interest and external interference.  Independence for the accident investigation authority is consistent with international standards.  Standard 5.4 of Annex 13 to the International Convention on Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention) states:

The accident investigation authority shall have independence in the conduct of the investigation and have unrestricted authority over its conduct.

Enhanced independence for the ATSB results from a combination of factors.  The position of the Executive Director of Transport Safety Investigation, appointed by the Secretary of the Department, will no longer exist.  Instead, Commissioners appointed by the Minister, consisting of the Chief Commissioner and two part-time Commissioners (with the power to appoint more) will be responsible for administering the functions of the TSI Act and exercising its investigation powers.  The Minister will have the power to provide notice of his or her views on the strategic direction for the ATSB, to which the ATSB must have regard.  However, other than the ability for the Minister to require the ATSB to investigate a particular matter, the ATSB will not be subject to a direction from anyone with respect to the exercise of its powers and performance of its functions.

The creation of a statutory agency will also give the ATSB responsibilities in its own right under the PS Act and the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and discretion with respect to the management of its staff and resources consistent with these Acts.  The ATSB will, therefore, have operational independence with respect to the exercise of its investigation powers and functional independence with respect to the administration of its resources.

"..and addressed it in the National Aviation Policy Green Paper (2 December 2008)..."

These were the segments from the 'Green Paper' referred to (above):

 

"...In 2007 Mr Russell Miller AM was tasked by the then Government to review the relationship
between CASA and the ATSB. Mr Miller’s work arose from a recommendation of the Queensland
Coroner following his inquiry into the fatal accident at Lockhart River in 2005.

The Government released Mr Miller’s report for public comment in March 2008 (it can be accessed
at <http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/aviation/safety/atsb_casa_report.aspx>).

In finding there was room for improvement in the way the agencies interact, Mr Miller addressed the
ATSB’s governance structure and the issue of protection of safety related information. With regard
to governance, Mr Miller recommended that the Government move to clarify the ATSB’s
independence as the national safety investigation agency. The Government accepts this key
recommendation, which received strong support from industry, and will implement it through the
necessary legislative and administrative changes.

The Government’s response to aviation sector changes needs to go beyond the governance
changes. We need to ensure that Australia’s key safety agencies – CASA and the ATSB – have
the necessary resources to meet their responsibilities...

...Safety agency governance: independence for the ATSB

The Government has decided to establish the ATSB as a statutory agency and to introduce a
Commission structure to enhance its independence. Responses to the Miller review revealed
strong industry support for an independent ATSB and an alternative governance model was one of
the review’s recommendations.

The Commission structure for the ATSB will comprise a full time Chair, who will also be the Chief
Executive, two part-time commissioners and provision for additional commissioners to be appointed
for particular investigations as necessary. The Commission will be appointed by and report to the
Minister and the new agency will be established under the FMA Act and the Public Service Act
1999.

The Executive Director of Transport Safety Investigation’s current powers under the TSI Act will be
transferred to the Commission, which would have powers to delegate to appropriate levels in the
ATSB. The ATSB Chief Executive will be responsible for the day-to-day conduct of accident and
incident investigation under delegation from the Commission as a whole.

A Commission structure will support the ATSB’s enhanced independent status. The Commission
will provide guidance on the selection of accidents and serious incidents to be investigated. It will
also support the ATSB in encouraging safety action ahead of final reports, which will reduce the
need for safety recommendations and ensure that any safety recommendations deemed necessary
are in a format that will best contribute to practical safety improvements. The Commissioners will
be appointed with an appropriate mix of skills and expertise.

The Commission will establish a framework for the conduct of the ATSB’s work and delegation of
the investigative functions to staff as appropriate, with the expectation that at least one
commissioner would be involved in the sign-off of each report and that multiple commissioners
would consider the most sensitive reports.

A Commission will help to facilitate interaction with industry and other agencies and improve quality
control. It would oversee and approve ATSB reports and ensure investigation reports are
communicated effectively to industry and the safety regulator, CASA, and acted upon as a key par of Australia’s aviation safety system.

Legislative amendments to the TSI Act to give effect to the governance changes are to be
introduced in early 2009, with the new Commission to be in place by 1 July 2009.

Agency cooperation

The Miller review included some other recommendations to ensure appropriate coordination and
cooperation between the ATSB and CASA, including a range of operational matters that are
already being addressed by the agencies. The Government expects that the creation of a Board
for CASA and a Commission for the ATSB will help build cooperation across agencies.

The Miller review also suggested amendments to the provisions relating to the sharing of evidence
obtained in an investigation with CASA as the regulator. These recommendations raised serious
sensitivities in the industry, with a significant number of key industry players indicating their concern that a change in the current balance on information sharing could prejudice the industry’s level of cooperation with investigators.

The current provisions of the TSI Act offer only limited scope for sharing information for safety
purposes. There is room for further dialogue between the agencies about how those provisions are
used. Australia is not alone in grappling with this issue and discussions on a refined framework are
proceeding within ICAO.

The Government does not propose to initiate legislative change on these issues at this stage, but
will look to the agencies to work together towards agreement on an approach based on the current
provisions. The Government will also consider options for introducing a tiered system of voluntary
and mandatory reporting of safety issues to CASA that will allow CASA to take appropriate safety
action.

Following up safety recommendations

Consistent with recent ICAO decisions, the Government intends to introduce legislative
amendments that will require written responses to ATSB safety recommendations within 90 days.

The revised governance arrangements for CASA and the ATSB will also allow for a better outcome
from the ATSB’s findings and safety recommendations, which will be subject to review and
consultation with regular reports to the Minister. This process will provide confidence that ATSB
safety issues are being addressed and implemented and ensure feedback to the ATSB so that it
can best target future recommendations to achieving practical safety outcomes.

Agency funding

The Government will ensure that Australia’s aviation safety agencies are appropriately funded to
enable them to perform their functions. The Government will consider CASA’s long-term funding
needs, which were last reviewed in the 2005-06 Budget. CASA’s funding base comprises a mix of
budget appropriation, revenue from aviation fuel excise and cost recovery of regulatory service
fees. Consideration of CASA’s overall funding will include resourcing of the Office of Airspace
Regulation to ensure the continued development of that important regulatory role. To ensure the
costs of CASA’s safety regulation do not place an excessive burden on the regional and general
aviation industries, options will be considered for limiting CASA’s regulatory service fees to that part
of the industry.

The Government will also consider funding to support the new governance arrangements for CASA
and the ATSB, and the ATSB’s new statutory independence. Consideration will also be given to
the ATSB’s funding base to ensure it is appropriately resourced to discharge its important
investigatory role..."

Somewhat ironically the first real test case for a high profile investigation conducted under the new 'Commission' system of ATSB Governance was to be the PelAir Norfolk Island ditching investigation and we all know how that ended up...  

Consequently the July 2009 amendment brought us the deeply flawed character (with absolutely NFI about transport safety investigation) Beaker followed by a severely narcissistic individual (with absolutely NFI about transport safety investigation) HVH, who had the mendacity to threaten his own senior investigative officers with criminal sanctions if they were to talk out of school about the search for MH370. To finally Popinjay (again with absolutely NFI about transport safety investigation) who apparently believes that both the 2014 Forsyth report and the current Ministerial SoE directs him to ignore the very real safety issues of two recreational aircraft having a midair collision in busy airspace, that includes high capacity RPT aircraft - WTF??   

So a simple 14 year review of the effectiveness of the 2009 'Commission' amendment to achieve the aims of the 2008 'Green Paper' should include the findings of:

1) ..the Senate AAI inquiry: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Bus...port/index

2) ...the Forsyth review: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/...sponse.pdf 

3) ...the findings of the TSBC peer review: https://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/coll/2014/...41201.html plus ProAviation review: http://proaviation.com.au/2014/12/03/can...#more-2464 

4) ...the 2017 ICAO audit: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/...t_full.pdf

5) ...the 14 March 2019 ANAO ATSB audit report: https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance...ccurrences

In particular how is this 'agreed to' recommendation working out?

Recommendation no.1

Paragraph 2.8

The ATSB implement strategies that address the decline in the timely completion of short investigations.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau response: Agreed.

              
Reflect on this in regards to the above: Proof of ATSB delays and ICAO Annex 13 non-compliance?? 

 
  MTF...P2 -