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Buckley levels Accusations of Misfeasance at CASA

20 November 2020
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Embattled former flying instructor and training operator Glen Buckley accused three high-level CASA managers of misfeasance in his evidence to the senate inquiry into the general aviation industry on Friday.

Buckley, who once owned Australian Pilot Training Alliance, has been in a bitter dispute with CASA since the regulator varied the conditions of his Part 142 approval in 2018, which made his business no longer viable.

In evidence provided over an internet feed to a public hearing, Buckley leveled accusations of misfeasance at Director of Aviation Safety Shane Carmody, Executive Manager Legal and Regulatory Affairs Jonathon Aleck and Group Executive Manager – Aviation Graeme Crawford.

Buckley made the accusations in front of the public hearing chaired by Senator Susan McDonald, which also included senators Glenn Sterle and Rex Patrick.

"I, here in this forum, am lodging a formal allegation of misfeasance against Mr Shane Carmody, the CEO of CASA," Buckley stated without reservation. "I am also lodging, to both of you senators, formal allegations of misfeasance against Mr Jonathon Aleck ... and, finally, an allegation of misfeasance against Mr Graeme Crawford."

Buckley stated he had had legal advice on the matter of misfeasance before making the allegations and had done extensive research into the definitions of both misfeasance in office and negligent mis-statement.

Quoting a High Court source, Buckley said that misfeasance "requires an intentional, but invalid or unauthorised act to be committed by a public officer in the proported discharge of their public duties, which causes a loss to a person. It requires that the person committing the act did so deliberately."

CASA has declined to comment specifically on the allegations, although under questioning from Senator McDonald on Friday, Carmody said he rejected many of the allegations and accusations Buckley made against him and other CASA staff.

In his opening comments, Carmody issued counter-accusations against Buckley including assault of CASA staff.

"Mr Buckley has harrassed my staff and continues to do so, on PPRuNe and just about every other website," Carmody said whilst recognising the emotional argument, "he makes unsubstantiated allegations and I'm quite happy to deal with them. He has assaulted my staff, he has stalked my staff in the Melbourne office, and frankly, we've had enough of him.

"So the matter is with the ombudsman, and I'm very, very happy for the matter to stay with the ombudsman and get resolved. I will not accept the allegations that are made."

The Commonwealth Ombudsman reported in August on the first phase of the investigation, finding that there was no impediment to franchising flight training operations under the Franchise AOC Arrangements ruling made in 2006. That ruling refers to commercial operations under CAR 206, but in September 2014, flight training was removed from CAR 206.

CASA originally used the ruling as the basis for declaring the APTA model illegal.

Phase Two of the ombudsman's investigation will focus on the CASA action of serving a seven-day cease notice on APTA in October 2018 and CASA informing Buckley's new employer in August 2019 that his new role was "untenable" due to comments Buckley was making publicly.

Via the UP and the AP email chain:

Allegations raised by Mr. Carmody regarding "assault" and stalking"


21/11/20


Dear Mr Carmody, CEO of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority,

I refer to your attendance at the Senate RRAT Estimates Committee and associated comments that you made about me on 20/11/20. 

I made my  presentation between the 3-hour 50 minute mark through until 4 hours and 32 minutes. Immediately after my presentation, you were offered the right to reply and I  have attached a link to your presentation at that inquiry.    Rural & Regional Affairs & Transport - 20/11/2020 08:49:59 ? Parliament of Australia

I refer to comments that you made at the 4 hour and 38-minute mark where you claimed “He has assaulted my staff, he has stalked my staff”

Whilst I appreciate that in making such comments you are protected by Parliamentary privilege. That Parliamentary privilege is intended to allow full and frank disclosure of matters. It is not intended for the CEO of CASA to make false allegations against an individual or to blatantly lie and mislead Parliament, and more so considering your position as the CEO of CASA.

Whilst I do appreciate that you were somewhat “rattled” and may not have had the clarity of mind that would be ideal in such a situation, I would like to afford you the opportunity to correct that blatant untruth.

For clarity, I absolutely and totally refute that claim, and as you will appreciate that comment has bought angst to my family.

The purpose of this correspondence.

If you stand by that claim that I assaulted and stalked your staff, can I request the details of those allegations? Are you able to provide any supporting details of such incidents? Ideally, this would include details of the alleged incidents such as dates, times, and circumstances of the alleged assault or stalking matters.

My assumption is that such matters would be held by CASA on file, there would be Workcover documentation, a formal complaint lodged within CASA, or something similar.

If you are unable or unwilling to support those allegations my intention would be to make a Freedom of Information request to obtain any supporting documentation, and fully refute that scurrilous allegation and a blatant untruth.

Respectfully, Glen Buckley.

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22/11/20


Allegations that Mr. Carmody, CEO of CASA provided misleading information to the RRAT inquiry

Dear Mr. Carmody, the RRAT Committee, the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Office and the CASA Board.

I would like to bring some clarity to a matter of significant disparity between what I advised the RRAT Committee and the misleading information that Mr. Carmody in the role of the CEO of CASA provided. I believe that Mr. Carmody was deliberately misleading the RRAT inquiry. This matter is significant as I am claiming that CASA was frustrating my efforts to arrive at a resolution.

In the RRAT inquiry, Senator Sterle queries why I did not pursue legal action earlier. The following correspondence may bring some clarity to that.

Prior to engaging a lawyer, I felt that I should exhaust all opportunities at following due processes i.e. approach the Board who are responsible for the good governance of CASA.

Refer to the attached clip from the RRAT Senate Estimates on 20/11/22  Rural & Regional Affairs & Transport - 20/11/2020 08:49:59 ? Parliament of Australia

Please listen to the recording from the 4 hours 30 minute mark, where I made, in part, the following statement to the Senate Estimates Committee.

“I wrote to Mr. Tony Mathews, the Chair of the CASA Board for 6 months before I went public with this……….. 6months…….. had he acted within an appropriate timeline I probably wouldn’t be where I am now…”

The attached emails, clearly support my contentions. CASA initiated the restrictions on the business's ability to trade on 23/10/18. I initially wrote to the CASA Board on 02/01/19. I first went public with my allegations 6 months later on 06/04/20 by making my very first post on PPRuNe and that link follows as evidence of my claim. The post that I made can be found here.  Glen Buckley and Australian small business -V- CASA - PPRuNe Forums.

At the 4 hours and 35-minute mark, Mr. Carmody the CEO of CASA, summarised and refuted my statement  in the following way,  “Mr Buckley says the CASA Chair had ignored him, well the CASA Chair met face to face with Mr. Buckley, a fact which he conveniently omits”.

I make note of his very emotional tone suggesting that CASA had perhaps embraced my offer to meet, when in fact it was clearly being resisted.

I have attached emails that relate to the chronological listing below, and clearly support the truthful contention that I did on fact write to the Board repeatedly over a period of 6 months, and was ignored.

·      2nd January 2019 I wrote to the Board of CASA raising substantive allegations regarding unlawful conduct by CASA personnel. I sought the Boards direction on what action needed to be taken. I also pointed out the commercial impact of CASA actions.My request was not responded to.

·      2nd April 2019. I wrote to the CASA Board raising substantial allegations regarding unlawful conduct by CASA personnel and making myself available to meet with any TWO Members of the CASA Board. I made myself available to travel to any location in Australia at any time that CASA could facilitate my request

·      22nd May 2019, I wrote to the CASA Board yet again

·      28th May, the CASA board responds by assuring me that the ‘Board is abreast” of the situation and I was not able to meet with CASA.

·      5th June 2019, I made a further request to meet with the Board, and highlighted how Mr. Crawford had written to me and advised a meeting would not be facilitated with the Board.

·      11th June request to meet with the Board.

·      14th June, CASA advise the possibility of a meeting. Note that this is 6 months after I had made my initial request

·      28th June CASA advises a meeting is available on 19th July 2019.

·      19th July 2019, meeting proceeds more than 6 months after the initial request.

For clarity. I absolutely maintain that I did write to the CASA Board for 6 months on multiple occasions raising substantive allegations. My reasonable requests were not met, and more than 6 months after my first request, I did have a meeting with the Chair of the Board of CASA.

That meeting finally occurred on 19th July 2019, 6 months after multiple requests were made. I had requested to meet with any two Members of the Board to ensure integrity. That request was never facilitated and still has not been.

I did meet with Mr. Tony Mathews and instead of a second member of the Board as I had requested, Mr. Mathews elected to be accompanied by the CASA Region Manager, Mr. Jason McHeyzer.

Interestingly It was Mr. Mc Heyzer the CASA Region Manager that wrote to my Employer on 27th August 2019 ( a little over one month after the meeting), directing that my continuing  employment was “untenable based on comments that I was making publicly”, and I was terminated.

I hope that this correspondence supports my contention and brings clarity to any misunderstandings that may have arisen from Mr. Carmody's misleading response.


Respectfully, Glen Buckley

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23/11/20

Correcting Mr. Carmody's allegations to the Senate RRAT that I have posted on “almost every other website”

Dear Mr. Carmody,

Whilst I do somewhat apologize for the repeated correspondence, I am merely trying to correspond on one matter per piece of correspondence to bring additional clarity to what is a difficult subject.

As you are aware, I believe you have not acted without ethics or integrity, and in fact attempted to mislead the current Senate inquiry.

In your recent presentation to the RRAT, you made the following comment at the 4 hours and 38-minute mark;

“Mr Buckley has harassed my staff on Pprune and almost every other website” Rural & Regional Affairs & Transport - 20/11/2020 08:49:59 ? Parliament of Australia

The truth is that I have only ever made comments on one website, so your assertion “almost every other website” could perhaps suggest to the RRAT that I am a “trouble maker” going to multiple websites and making allegations against CASA.  If my intention was to cause mischief I would have pursued my case through a more public forum such as Facebook etc, rather than the industry website Pprune.

For clarity and to ensure that the truth prevails.

I have posted on only one website and that is Pprune. The link is attached. Glen Buckley and Australian small business -V- CASA - PPRuNe Forums

I have not posted on “almost every other website” and Mr. Carmody was fully aware of that when he made the misleading comment.

Mr. Carmody, could I respectfully request that you identify to myself and the Senate RRAT, any other websites that I have made comments on.

Thank you in anticipation of you clarifying this matter and ensuring that truthfulness prevails.

Respectfully, Glen Buckley

P.S. On post 33, on the Pprune website, I made the following post which I feel is pertinent.

“Dear Moderator,

I appreciate that you are currently reviewing the contents of a letter I wish to publish. Let me be very clear. I fully stand behind anything I say and will be prepared to defend it with evidence. The issue is significant. The fact is that CASA do engage with Industry, and often that manner is inappropriate. My concerns are in the public interest, and in the interests of safety. I prefer this forum as it is appropriately discrete. I am not trying to cause mischief, I would use another social network for that. I am trying to communicate with my industry peers via the only forum available to me. My issue, in my opinion, is pertinent to all business operators in the GA industry. My phone number is 0418772013 if you wish to talk to me. I need guidance from my industry peers and am seeking it through here. Thank you for your consideration.”

And finally a couple of comments/posts off the UP (courtesy of advo-cate & Para 377  ) :

CASA Board

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Glen, Your experience is not unusual as the casa Board is well captured by the CEO.

A person I know well, has a matter that the required Board intervention and he spent 2 years asking for a meeting.

Finally, the person had a promise from Geoff Boyd [as the chair at the time], to meet with the Board. in a regional setting. That was not facilitated, so he traveled to Canberra [where the next Board meeting was being held]. Geoff Boyd told him he didn't want the person to contact him again [The person had known Geoff since 1994 and Boyd did LAME work on his aircraft at the time].

When the person went to the public area in Aviation House - Furner Street and asked for Mr. Boyd, as Boyd was in the building at the time. There was no response from Boyd or the Board to facilitate a meeting. Instead Jonathon Hanton the ICC arrived and spoke to the person saying that a meeting was being refused. The ICC did arrange a meeting with the FOI officer for a matter that was being requested. The FOI officer was not allowed to speak to the person without Adam Anastasi - casa legal - being present. A breach of the FOI process.

Not to be put off after a 3000km trip, the person came back even earlier the next day to see if he could get lucky as the Board members arrived. The person made the same request as the day before, from the public area. Again the ICC staff came to see him.

An obnoxious "security officer" came downstairs while he was having a private meeting with the ICC. The security officer carried a direct threat from Carmody that they were calling the police to have the person arrested if he did not leave the building.

Good try Carmody.

Threat, public area, improper process, intimidation, stand-over tactics and more.

Why does the aviation community know that Glen is telling the truth.

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Originally Posted by Lead Balloon 

My apologies for the (slight) thread drift, Glen.

On the subject of the allegations by Mr Carmody against the pilot of an aircraft whose “instruments”, according to Mr Carmody, “say he was at one hundred and twenty five feet”, I’m following with interest a thread on another aviation forum about a pilot who says Flightaware always shows his altitude as 300’ below that indicated on the aircraft’s altimeter, not explicable by differences in QNH. Some [i]very interesting information linked in that thread.

The difference between Height-Above-Ellipsoid versus Height-Above-Geiod in the Geometric Altitude parameter in ADS-B is fascinating. And wouldn’t it be funny (not for the pilot concerned) if the 125 number cited by Mr Carmody is actually a parameter expressed in metres rather than feet...[/i]

Mr Carmody is not an Aviator, nor does he understand aviation processes or procedures, and neither do most of his minions, therefor that may be the reason thatbthe emotionally challenged Mr Carmody speaketh bulls#it to the good Senator.

Now, had Mr Carmody been asked to explain the procedures and processes pertaining to spin, deflection and obsfucation, middle aged manopause and the emotional toll on the male mind, and perhaps Government perks and financial benefits for Career bureaucrat office workers, he would have done extremely well in the Senate and he would not be in a position where he is now being ‘called out’ for making himself and his organisation and the Minister look like a bunch of complete arseclowns.

MTF...P2