New Australian Aviation Forum speaks out
A new group of peak Australian aviation bodies warns that the government’s National Aviation Policy White Paper has “missed a great opportunity to establish more aviation jobs in Australia and to help the industry deliver better services to Australians.”
With former Qantas Chief Pilot Chris Manning as its Independent Chair, the new group is the Australian Aviation Associations Forum, which will meet regularly to consolidate and promote its views on industry affairs. It currently comprises the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia, the Australian Airports Association, the Australian Business Aircraft Association, the Regional Aviation Association of Australia, Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia and the Aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Business Association.
Forum participants thanked the government for undertaking the policy review resulting in the White Paper, but expressed disappointment in several aspects, describing it as “little more than a description of the past and present initiatives with little or no vision for the future.”
Forum members agreed that “the policy does little to address government costs imposed on the industry, and nothing to paint a vision for a vibrant and growing aviation industry in the same way that comparable countries such as Brazil and Canada have.”
Specifics raised by the group included lack of government engagement with industry, its concerns and suggestions. Participants in the current regulatory review report that important legislation now being framed, although agreed on in the industry/government consultation process, is being continually modified by the Attorney-General’s Department, to return as what they see as unworkable new laws that are excessively prescriptive, punitive, unique to Australia, antithetic to safety, and almost certainly non-compliant with our obligations to the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO.)
Also cited are the White Paper’s lack of recognition of the importance of aviation infrastructure to the nation. Industry believes for example that many airports are now becoming tollgates because of a lack of rationale for security measures (aircraft weight based), implementation and costings. There are also growing fears that key regional airports may vanish under the “development bulldozer” despite government safeguards, because of a lack of political will.
While some advances are now in place to encourage and develop engineer and pilot training, they also believe that the lack of detail in addressing the long-term aviation skills shortage calls for strategic decisions, which may slow industry growth.
An urgent need for improvements in the aviation liability regime is also placing carriers at a commercial disadvantage compared to the their foreign competitors, they say.
CASA regulatory ‘reform’ schedule and ‘consultation’ are both lagging at least ten years behind schedule, and industry now fears a snap decision to freeze the process and enact new regulations which they fear would be “worse than what we started with.” CASA’s Director of Aviation Safety, John McCormick, has made several public statements reflecting impatience with the slow pace of reform, but blaming it on excessive consultation. He told the Regional Airlines Association of Australia last October : “I’ve said this many times, and I’ll say it again, that regulator starts with an R, and in my world it starts with a capital R. We’re here to write the regulations; we’re here to listen and consult with industry, take on board what people want, and then we write the regulations. We take responsibility for it – the Civil Aviation Act says no one else will take responsibility for it, and that’s what we’re here to do.”
One industry figure who contacted AviationAdvertiser described the White Paper as “little more than a snapshot in time of an unsatisfactory status quo, a catalogue of current government aviation-related activity and statistics, and a document seriously lacking in the strategic direction that all facets of industry need, if we are to see a path ahead.”
Forum participants however say they will continue to work with the Government and relevant departments to address the many outstanding issues.
The forum’s participating associations represent tens of thousands of pilots, aviation business owners, employees, airport operators, airlines, aircraft charter companies, maintainers and sport aviation enthusiasts in the aviation industry across Australia.
They will be able to comment in depth on their particular areas of concern and expertise. Mr Manning says he believes the group’s membership comprises most of the significant aviation business groups, but it is not necessarily exclusive to those groups. Contacts for forum participants that currently support the communiqué are:
Aerial Agricultural association of Australia: Mr Phil Hurst, CEO (02) 6241 2100 phil@aerialag.com.au
Australian Airports Association: Mr Ken Keech, CEO (03) 9859 9487 aaal@camfield.com.au
Australian Business Aircraft Association: Mr David Bell, Executive Director (02) 9953 0363 abaadbell@optusnet.com.au
Australian Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul Business Association, Mr Ken Cannane, Executive Director, (02) 97592715 ken@amroba.org.au
Regional Aviation Association of Australia: Mr Paul Tyrrell, CEO (02) 6162 0346 ceo@raaa.com.au
Royal Federation of Aero Clubs of Australia: Ms Marj Davis, President rfaca@ozemail.com.au
When you use the phrase “labor shortage” or “skills shortage” you’re speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually mean to say is: “There is a labor shortage at the salary level I’m willing to pay.” That statement is the correct phrase; the complete sentence and the intellectually honest statement.
Some people speak about shortages as though they represent some absolute, readily identifiable lack of desirable services. Price is rarely accorded its proper importance in their discussion.
If you start raising wages and improving working conditions, and continue doing so, you’ll solve your shortage and will have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.
And if you think there’s going to be a shortage caused by employees retiring out of the workforce: Guess again: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, most people entering retirement age are working well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.
Some specialized jobs require training and/or certification, again, the solution is higher wages and improved benefits. People will self-fund their re-education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to self-fund their own career re-education.
There is never enough of any good or service to satisfy all wants or desires. A buyer, or employer, must give up something to get something. They must pay the market price and forego whatever else he could have for the same price. The forces of supply and demand determine these prices — and the price of a skilled workman is no exception. The buyer can take it or leave it. However, those who choose to leave it (because of lack of funds or personal preference) must not cry shortage. The good is available at the market price. All goods and services are scarce, but scarcity and shortages are by no means synonymous. Scarcity is a regrettable and unavoidable fact.
Shortages are purely a function of price. The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the “going price” has been held below the market-clearing price.