Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

This batch of documents is from a Comcare investigation into the Whitsundays Taipan helicopter crash that killed Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Phillip Laycock and Corporal Alexander Naggs. These contain bombshell allegations that cast a real shadow on the prosecutor's decision not to progress this case. The Comcare investigation lays out that Defence knew that the TopOwl head-up displays, especially with software version HMSD 5.10, could tell pilots the incorrect data on the helicopter; that the risk was controlled flight into terrain, into the ground, with the consequence of serious injury or death; that Defence overrode their own internal systems to field the equipment anyway; and that Bushman 83 were flying in conditions identified as the highest risk for this hazard.

An eminently qualified pilot who has analysed the flight data recorder information published by the Defence Flight Safety Bureau has put together a compelling narrative of what probably happened in the cockpit of Bushman 83. Having experienced the feeling of disorientation before, under training, the pilot would have relied on his training, which repeatedly emphasised, 'Trust your instruments.' Again, the fuzzy green NVD background image instrument readings presented by HMSD 5.10 would be bright, crisp and sharp. They would be both trusted and compelling head-up displays. Knowing he was disoriented, the pilot would have looked from the side to the front while at 30 degrees of bank angle. HMSD 5.10 would then indicate the aircraft was pitching rapidly nose up. The rate of pitch would have indicated the aircraft was rapidly departing controlled flight and desperate immediate action was required. This is the source of surprise the Defence Flight Safety Bureau was looking to identify, and they were unable to because they had ruled TopOwl out of consideration. We know that from Comcare, and I'll get on to that in a minute. Fatigued, stressed and disorientated, the pilot would have slammed the stick forward to stop the nose pitching up, trusting his instruments. The nose, though, wasn't pitching up as TopOwl would have been indicating, and this sent the aircraft into a dive which ultimately was unrecoverable before they impacted into the ocean.

Defence knew TopOwl could malfunction in exactly the conditions in which Bushman 83 was flying, yet they rolled out the equipment anyway. It was probably illegal for Army aviation to roll out TopOwl in the way they did, When the test pilots refused to certify TopOwl with HMD 5.10 for airworthiness in the MRH-90 Taipans, that should have been the end of it. Army aviation does not have authority to overrule those airworthiness certifiers, yet they did, most likely in breach of the law that allows Army to operate helicopters.

The government of Australia permits defence to operate aircraft in compliance with the Defence Aviation Safety Regulation. Under this regulation, Army are issued a permit recognising them as a military air operator. This places responsibilities on Army officers to conduct air operations in compliance with the Defence Aviation Safety Regulation. Army do not have unilateral authority to amend or violate these regulations. The Defence Aviation Safety Regulation requires aircraft changes to be assessed for airworthiness code compliance by a recognised test agency before release into service.

The Army Aviation Test and Evaluation Section is the only Defence Aviation Safety Regulation recognised test agency within Army. The Aviation Test and Evaluation Section assessed the TopOwl system as non-compliant with airworthiness codes, an assessment which remains unchallenged still. The Army Aviation Test and Evaluation Section reported that TopOwl airworthiness code defects would likely result in multiple deaths if used in poor weather conditions, such as the conditions on the night of 28 July 2023, when an MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crew using TopOwl became disoriented and flew into the water, killing all on board.

Once the system was assessed as being noncompliant with airworthiness codes, the head of army aviation, John Fenwick, did not have authority to release the unairworthy TopOwl system into service. Nonetheless he did so. He released it with the aid of his Director of Operational Airworthiness, David Lynch, and the head of the standards branch, Tony Norton. These persons fabricated a series of documents to support service release using ad hoc processes not approved under the Defence Aviation Safety Regulation. The documents falsely claimed the system was reassessed as safe to use when no airworthiness code assessment had taken place, no such reassessment was authorised under the Defence Aviation Safety Regulation and the system had not been assessed in poor weather conditions. Listen to this litany. This decision to release the unairworthy system and the associated risks were then obfuscated from the external scrutiny which the Defence Aviation Safety Regulation required, through failure to comply with defence mandated risk management processes and failure to record the risk decision on a central risk register—failure, failure, failure, failure.

All of the four men on board the ill-fated Taipan helicopter were likely experiencing hazardous levels of fatigue as a result of disruptive work patterns, burnout and rough sleeping conditions during the defence training exercise. The inspector-general of the Australian Defence Force inquiry heard the crew were sleeping next to an active fire station and operational airport in hot tents while trying to switch their body clocks to night flying mode. The Comcare investigation found Defence failed to follow a single reasonably practicable measure to manage fatigue and offered no less than six examples of protocols available.

It's not enough to get up on Anzac Day and invoke the spirit of the diggers. We need to back the diggers every single day. We must back the diggers every single day. The Comcare investigation, revealed under One Nation's order for production of documents, demonstrates that the government has a long way to go. Just like the Ballarat farmers, we will chase you. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted.