Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

I must say I am somewhat astonished that the government have not taken the opportunity to put on the record their reasons why they are opposing this reference. This is an appalling situation. I am wondering where Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce are, to tell us why they are going to vote against a reasonable, sensible and timely inquiry into the operation of Australia’s air transport regulator. This is an appalling state of affairs. Where are these senators who walk around and say that they are the people who defend rural and regional Queensland? Why are they opposing an inquiry that will allow my constituents some opportunity to understand what CASA was doing in the lead-up to the Lockhart River tragedy? It is an appalling state of affairs.

On 7 May 2005, a plane travelling from Bamaga to Cairns via Lockhart River crashed when attempting to land at the Lockhart River airstrip. Fifteen people were killed in that tragedy—two pilots and 13 passengers. Most of those people were my constituents—can I say, ‘our constituents’; Senator Boswell’s, Senator Joyce’s and my constituents. Yet those senators are not here to explain why they are not going to allow an inquiry that will give the relatives of those people who died an opportunity to understand what CASA was doing in the lead-up to this appalling tragedy.

We know, through the Australian Transport Safety Bureau interim factual report which was released on 16 December 2005, that a number of deficiencies were found that CASA could have dealt with if they had, in the view of many, been doing their job properly. That interim factual report found that the copilot was not approved to conduct an RNAV (GNSS) approach—the type of approach that was being attempted on that tragic day. This was in contradiction of the company’s operation manual. The interim factual report also found that a load sheet was not left at the aerodrome of departure—the town of Bamaga. It also found, astonishingly, that it was not routine practice for Transair to leave a load sheet at the Bamaga airport. This was also in contravention of the company’s operation manual. The cockpit voice recorder was not functioning, and no data from it was usable. The report also found that it had not been functioning for quite some time.

We may well ask why this is relevant to the inquiry which is the subject of the debate today. Following questioning at estimates, CASA has revealed that in early 2005, prior to the tragedy, it conducted what it called ‘a fulsome audit’—an audit which in the view of many, including me, should have revealed the persistent noncompliance of Transair with the company’s operation manual. That is something that it is obliged to do under air safety regulations. It did an audit, but it did not find out that the copilot was not qualified. CASA actually travelled the same route with the same two pilots—those two pilots who were tragically killed—and did not check to see if that pilot was qualified to do the instrument landing that he was attempting that day. How did that happen? We need answers to these sorts of questions, and this inquiry would allow the families of those people who were killed to ask those questions, to put their views on the record and to ask CASA what it was doing. What did it do during that ‘fulsome audit’ that did not reveal the noncompliance with the company’s operation manual?

Further, in the last estimates CASA explained that, partly as a result of the Lockhart River tragedy, a number of internal procedures are proposed to be changed. Those procedures require scrutiny. We want to know what they intend to do and why we have to wait until 15 people are killed before they change their internal operations. What is wrong with this organisation that watched—it is probably too strong to say allowed—an event happen? We need to understand that. That is why it is timely that this inquiry occur—an inquiry that will allow for scrutiny of CASA’s actions prior to the tragedy. It will also allow the families of those who were killed to provide their evidence to the committee.

Not only North Queenslanders have lost confidence in the regulator of aviation and, particularly, in light aircraft aviation over the last 12 months; as my colleague Senator O’Brien has identified, many Australians have diminished confidence in the ability of this government to monitor the safety and compliance of aviation generally. However, when you go to North Queensland and you see the data on the number of incidents and, unfortunately, the number of deaths that we have had, you know it is absolutely timely that an inquiry of this nature proceed.

You cannot simply stand by and say, ‘CASA had nothing to do with the fact that 15 people died at Lockhart River.’ Surely Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce have a responsibility to allow this inquiry to proceed. What do they have to hide? More importantly, who are they protecting? The bottom line is that Liberal Party and National Party senators are lining up today to protect Mr Truss and, before him, Mr Anderson rather than allow the proper scrutiny of the actions of CASA in the lead-up to the Lockhart River tragedy. For all of the bluster of Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce, protecting their leader is more important than allowing scrutiny of Australia’s air transport regulator.

This inquiry is important for Queenslanders—in particular, Far North Queenslanders. They were my constituents, and their families need answers. The number of incidents and, in fact, deaths in North Queensland needs explanation. We need a restoration of confidence in the aviation sector in North Queensland. Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait rely on general aviation and regular passenger transport systems in order to connect with the rest of the world. It is not a frivolous part of our life. We have to use planes to get where we need to go. Many of the people of the Torres Strait live on islands. They have to use general aviation—it is like the rest of Australia using roads. But we want to have confidence that when we get on a plane it is going to be okay, and we do not have that anymore. This inquiry would allow scrutiny of our air transport regulator to continue, and I demand that Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce come into this chamber and explain why they cannot support an inquiry that would at least give us some understanding of CASA’s role and would potentially restore some confidence in the aviation sector. It is appalling that they are not here.

Question put:

That the motion (That the motion () be agreed to.