Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

In the contribution I am about to make, I want to deal with the last answer first. It was very interesting that, while the minister was reporting what the minister in the other place asked him to say on his behalf, there was I believe an attempt to suggest that we were not going to go down the path of multicrew pilot licensing until this process of review—this consultation—had taken place. But no, in answer to my supplementary question what is being made clear is that the training is starting now. The only thing is that they are calling it a trial and that at the end of the training they will have completed the trial. So those who have completed the training will be able to be licensed under the regulations. That is in fact what the minister was saying. Let us get away from the cant we were given on Monday about this government putting this on the backburner until consultation has been considered.

The truth of this matter was revealed back in February—you can see it on the internet today at Alteon’s website. Alteon is the training arm of Boeing that is running this simulator based training. Alteon has been saying from as early as February this year that Alteon:

... will present the proposed training syllabus to industry partners in April—

which it did—

and finalise the programme by June—

which it did, and—

the first MPL training course would take place in Brisbane, beginning in November and producing the first batch of qualified pilots—

qualified in its terms—

by January 2008.

How can you commence a course before you know whether the qualification exists? But the fix is in, because CASA, according to Alteon, is one of its industry partners, and there is general agreement that, ‘We’ll go through the process and we’re going to approve this multi-crew pilot licensing system, so let’s get on with the training now; let’s have Alteon start the course in February this year.’ I think Alteon believes it will have six to eight cadets start this program next month in Brisbane, and I understand there are other courses being contemplated on the eastern seaboard of Australia. Alteon is saying, ‘Let’s start that process, let’s get it underway.’ Despite what has been promised about consultation, and despite what has been promised about the standards expected, there is an expectation by Alteon and by CASA that by January 2008 people who will have gone through the course will be able to get the tick, because the fix is in and these multi-crew pilot licences will be approved.

The multicrew pilot licensing proposal from ICAO has not been approved in the United States or Europe. It has not been adopted as the alternative standard. It is still in contemplation. So how do the proponent and CASA get around that? How does the government get around that? Ultimately, it is responsible. What is being said is, ‘We’re going to call this training a trial.’ So what do we say about the people who have participated in the trial? Are they really undergoing training? Are they qualified pilots who are being tested against the standards they already have or are they, as I understand it, cadets who are not experienced pilots and who will be undertaking this sort of training for the first time? At the end of that period in January 2008, they will be expecting to come out of it with a qualification so that they can sit in the second officer’s seat at the front of one of the larger aircraft flying around in whatever part of the world they seek to fly in, and that could well be Australian airspace.

I do not know who will be engaging these pilots when they are qualified, but clearly CASA and this government believe that they will be qualified. Certainly, Alteon does; it would not be starting the training if it did not have that expectation. Frankly, we have had a very slippery answer from the minister’s counterpart in the other place, because he has been representing what has been said to him. Frankly, the Australian public should be very concerned because it is clear that we have been given a bit of spin about a process that will be followed. But, at the end of the day, the fix is in and this multi-crew pilot licence will get the big tick.