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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I return to that part of my question which Senator Abetz did not deal with—that is, the fact that Transair, having been told that its air operators certificate is to be cancelled, has an automatic, regulated 90-day stay of that order. It does not have to apply to a court to get the stay. CASA has implemented, with the approval of the government, a 90-day automatic stay of its own decision. Can the minister also confirm that the Civil Aviation Act provides CASA with the power to ground airlines that pose a serious threat but that it has chosen not to do so in this case? Why won’t the Howard government stop its soft treatment of Transair? Why won’t this government take action under the legislation to ground this airline? And why did the government create the power for this airline to effectively have its air operators certificate cancellation waived for a further 90 days?