Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

The honourable senator is right that on 23 November 2006 the International Civil Aviation Organisation will introduce a new type of flight crew licence, to be known as the MPL, which will allow a copilot to fly passenger aircraft after the completion of a minimum of 10 hours solo flying in an aircraft. The existing Australian standard is 100 hours. The new MPL has not been adopted by Australia; it is subject to a review. Australia, as we would all acknowledge, has a proud record of aviation safety, and this government will not agree to anything that sacrifices the safety of passengers.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority will soon begin a thorough consultation process with industry to determine whether it should increase the minimum standards before any change to the Australian standard is made. Rather than focusing on a prescribed number of solo flying hours, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority is moving towards the use of competency based training as the basis for assessing the skills, knowledge and standard of performance of Australian flight crew.