Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

To move:

That Instrument no. CASA EX48/11, made under subregulation 308(1) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988, be disallowed. [F2011L00652]

By leave, a short summary of the matter raised by the committee was incorporated—

Instrument No. CASA EX48/11 was made by the Director of Aviation Safety on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority (CASA), and exempts seaplanes from certain requirements of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 relating to general requirements for pilots of aircraft operated on the manoeuvring area of, or in the vicinity of, a non-controlled aerodrome. The instrument commenced on 20 April 2011, the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

In scrutinising this instrument against established principles of personal rights and parliamentary propriety, the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances (the committee) noted that it replaced, in similar terms, a previous instrument that expired at the end of January 2011. Given the period in which it appeared that no exemption was in operation, the committee sought advice from the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport (the minister) as to whether any person had been disadvantaged during that period. The minister subsequently advised that CASA was not aware of the extent to which persons were affected.

The committee was not able to determine on the basis of this response whether or to what extent persons may have been disadvantaged by the gap between exemptions, and has written to the minister seeking further clarification of this matter.