Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President Marc De Stoop met with the Department of Infrastructure and Transport last Friday to present an outline of Project Eureka, AOPA's plan for revitalising general aviation in Australia.
De Stoop handed Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government Paul Fletcher MP a letter outlining AOPA's plan and discussed opportunities to create employment within GA.
According to De Stoop, the meeting was "not just a meet and greet"
"He was across some of the issues and listened well," De Stoop said. "He knew NZ were doing a lot better than us in GA.
"Big picture stuff is what he is interested in. He needs to be convinced the industry is worth reviving to create those jobs. I promised [Project] Eureka would propose a path for this outcome."
In the letter, De Stoop and AOPA outlined Project Eureka, the brief of which is due to be complete next week.
"Project Eureka is a brief to government containing policy proposals and initiatives to revitalise this flagging Australian industry: an industry that has been in constant and unabated decline over the last 30 years," the letter states.
"The industry recognises there is no easy solution to the current situation. It is made up of many sectors that all have to work or prosper together to create a vibrant GA industry."
When completed, Project Eureka is expected to target nine areas of the general aviation industry that AOPA believes are in need of reform:
- Flight Regulations and Operations
- Industry Funding and Taxes
- Airport and General Aviation Business Security and Tenure
- Charter and Airwork Operations
- Flight Training
- Aviation Medicine
- Airspace Management
- Engineering/Manufacturing
- Future Technologies
AOPA describes Project Eureka as "a last stand against inappropriate government industry regulation that has decimated our once thriving GA industry." It would appear that AOPA has decided to do something different to get the message through.
"Chatting to the regulators for the last 15 years has not got GA anywhere with appropriate regulatory reform," De Stoop told Australian Flying.
"We are trying a different approach to get our message across about the perilous state of GA in this country.
"At the end of the day the government wants to create high value jobs for the Australian economy. That's what we want being generated from a healthy GA business sector.
De Stoop pointed out that the meeting with Minister Fletcher and the letter were not intended to be critical of CASA Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore, but rather were aimed at a bureaucratic system that resisted reform.
"It’s not a personal attack on Mark Skidmore. I think he is personally trying to achieve reform. He can’t do it satisfactorily under the current semi-autonomous monopoly model the government has created. No minister is game to meddle with them.
"They need to realize the industry is their customer and completely change their attitude to doing business. They also need to acknowledge safety is enhanced by training, collaboration and helping industry rather than writing volumes of penal code."
The full text of the AOPA letter to Minister Fletcher is available from the AOPA website.