Aviation activist Dick Smith has erected billboards in the Wagga Wagga district aimed at pressuring the Deputy Prime Minister into changing the Civil Aviation Act.
Wagga Wagga is in the electorate of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Michael McCormack.
According to Smith, he has spent $25,000 erecting three billboards calling for the Civil Aviation Act 1988 to be changed to remove the primacy of safety and force the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to take into account the cost of regulation.
"For over two decades CASA has wielded a one-way ratchet, by introducing aviation regulations with little consideration for the cost impact on industry," Smith said in a statement.
"In March 2018, Transport and Infrastructure Minister, The Hon Barnaby Joyce agreed with Shadow Minister, The Hon Anthony Albanese to amend the Australian Civil Aviation Act 1988, so that costs would be taken into account with aviation regulation reform.
"This amendment would have revitalised the general aviation and Australian flight training industry."
In 2018, Smith delivered a speech in Wagga Wagga calling for the government to "Stop the Lie" and change The Act. The speech led to the Australian General Aviation Alliance (AGAA) summit in June that sent several resolutions to Canberra, including a change to The Act.
However, both the Deputy Prime Minister and Shadow Minister for Transport Anthony Albanese said they did not support removing the primacy of safety even though they wording of The Act could be changed to take into account cost.