[Peetwo]

Further Senate RRAT committee Secretariat aberrations.  

Reference from above:

All Pel-Air lines of obfuscation lead to?



Couple more dusted off dots to add to the PelAir 'ditching of inconvenience' portrait but first a reference via this week's SBG: The best laid plans of mice and men.

Note that the date they were all received by the Committee Secretariat was on the 10 October 2012. However; the date that all the offending documents were copied/tabled, therefore made available for the Senator Committee members & public consumption, was on the 14 February 2013. This fits with the extraordinary revelations in the Senate inquiry public hearing the following day:  15 February 2013 Canberra, ACT
(HTML format) (PDF 104KB) (HTML & PDF)    

First QON & OBS (so far):

Q/ What was the delay in processing those documents?

Q/ In the context of this inquiry, how is it possible that such critical information and documentation effectively have been sat on (obfuscated), when the inquiry was still some 12 days from it's first public hearing?

&..

...What this appears to indicate is that the documents were sent collectively by an individual/entity/group, independent (officially) of either the ATSB or CASA. This IMO strongly suggests that this was a whistleblower(s) initiative. 

This opinion/suspicion is reinforced by the fact that the documents were received prior to the 1st public hearing and around the date the submissions from both the ATSB and CASA were received and/or copied/tabled.

Now it could be that the normally efficient Senate RRAT committee Secretariat suddenly got swamped by other priorities; or there was some sort of administrative glitch that prevented the 9 anonymously sent and inquiry 'critical' documents, from being processed/tabled for 4 months (128-129 days). However the evidence would appear to contradict the probability of such an aberration occurring.

To begin the timing of the received documents was within the original submissions due date and 2 days before the substantial submissions from the ATSB and CASA were received (& tabled). I can also personally attest (on behalf of PAIN) that subsequent 'supplementary' in camera submissions were processed and notifications of receipt were promptly sent within days of forwarding to the committee. 

I would also add that on a quick review of the 'additional documents received' list indicates that all other documents were tabled within days of receipt. All of these documents were received after the 10 October 2012.

Which brings me full circle back to my original QON (above) with the added QON of WHO or WHAT individual/entity could subvert/obfuscate/delay a parliamentary inquiry? 

&.. from the Senate Estimates thread:

The 2013 Senate RRAT committee Secretariat purge -  

In the course of doing some trolling into the possible culprits that aided & abetted the obfuscation/delay on nine critical PelAir inquiry documents - see HERE & HERE - I discovered some 'passing strange' deckchair shuffling at the RRAT committee Secretariat that saw most of the deckchairs shoved off the deck in the lead up to the 2013 election

Trolling through the details of this apparent Senate RRAT committee Secretariat administration glitch/cover-up, of the nine whistleblower documents; reminded me that this wasn't the only time there was such an administrative aberration inside of the PelAir inquiry...   

Reference excerpt PAIN review document 2013: 

MOU – Parallel investigation discrepancy
 
While researching the enforcement process/action leading up to Mr Hood’s ‘Notice of Suspension’ correspondence 24/12/2009 to Dominic James, I came across what appears to be some very disturbing issues in regards to the CASA/ATSB parallel investigation process in regards to the Norfolk ditching investigation. 
 
Chronology 18/11/2009-24/12/2009 (incomplete).
 
18 November 2009: Ditching 3 NM south-west of Norfolk Island Aerodrome.
 
18 November 2009: ATSB notified of accident and ATSB subsequently notify CASA. The ATSB decide to carry out an investigation and CASA decide to run a parallel investigation, which was initiated on 19 November.
 
Notes:
 

• Quotes/excerpts from Special Audit Report and CAIR 09/3:
   
  Ref: Page 3 of SAR
  
  
  Note: The audit report was released 08/01/2010 but it would appear that Mr White was already appointed in the position of MALIU, the following confirms this fact.
   
  Ref: Page 6 of CASA CAIR 09/3 heading ‘Synopsis’.
   
  
    
  Note:
   
  
• Mr White indicates in the synopsis that he was tasked in an official capacity as MALIU on the day of the ditching. He also (if indeed he was the author of CAIR 09/3) indicates that the parallel investigation was in accordance with para 4.1.2 of the MOU.
  
• However the reference was referring to the yet to be officially promulgated 2010 MOU
   
  Ref: 2010 MOU
  
  And:
  
   
  

• Because I was under the impression that in terms of MOUs (* if anything) the Norfolk Investigation should have been operating under the 2004 MOU. * If anything because it had officially expired but could be subject to extension:
   
  
   
   
  
• Therefore the reference for parallel investigations should have been:
   
  
   
  And:
   
  
   
   
  Note: In looking for a version of the 2004 MOU I remembered that I had copied an attachment from the CASA submission (I believe it was originally labelled Attachment D on the Senate submission page).
   
  What the original document that I downloaded (around about the 22/10/2012) contained was all three previous editions of the MOU, the 2010 MOU and hidden at the bottom the CAIR 09/3 report a total of 102 pages.
   
  As I wanted to review the 2004 MOU in particular, and not being able to initially find my downloaded copy, I decided to go back to the Senate submission page and download again. I eventually tracked the missing document (apparently re-labelled Attachment 5, see link below) and downloaded a pdf labelled b_c_ and d_CASA[1]. What I found was that there were now only 82 pages and the 2001, 2004 MOUs had disappeared.
  

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (PDF 397KB) Attachment 1(PDF 5395KB) Attachment 2(PDF 6218KB) Attachment 3(PDF 5596KB) Attachment 4(PDF 6528KB) Attachment 5(PDF 6032KB) 

Link for original undoctored document - see HERE.

MTF...P2