CASA hunts for reshuffle recruitment
By Steve Creedy, The Australian | Apr. 21, 2006
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has launched a massive recruitment drive in the wake of last week's unveiling of chief executive Bruce Byron's detailed restructuring plans.
Mr Byron moved in February to stamp his authority on the troubled regulator with a major restructure in which 65 operational jobs will be moved from Canberra to front-line field offices.
Brisbane will become CASA's new operational headquarters and home to the authority's air transport and general aviation groups.
The move will eventually result in CASA's existing Brisbane offices at Hendra and Fortitude Valley being merged into a single operations centre. According to a message sent to staff, the authority expects the changes to its four core operations groups to take 12 months.
They will result in the creation of 12 new operational positions in field offices of CASA's Air Transport Group and 17 at the group's Brisbane headquarters.
The new general aviation group headquarters in Brisbane will be developed progressively from July with 23 positions created there over 2006-07.
These will be part of 35 positions created in the general aviation group overall.
An overhaul of the manufacturing, certification and new technologies office will result in a reduction of the number of positions from 53 to 46.
Six field safety adviser positions are also expected to be created in the personnel licensing, education and training group.
The job spill means about a fifth of CASA's Canberra employees will have to reapply for jobs in other parts of the country by the middle of next year.
CASA will close its NSW field office at Canberra Airport by 2006 and, in the longer term, its Townsville office.
The moves have prompted some internal criticism but have generally been well received by the industry.
Mr Byron said in his message that the key to understanding the changes lay in looking at safety outcomes.
"Reforms being implemented now and during the next year will improve the way the operational work groups perform and will position them to make a greater contribution to improving and maintaining aviation safety in the future," he said.
"We are striving for a CASA that is more effective in achieving outcomes that directly impact or influence better air safety."
The CASA chief said he realised the process was hard for people whose positions were being abolished and whose jobs would no longer exist.
But he said as positions were abolished, a range of new ones were being created.
"People will have the opportunity to look at these new positions and decide if they wish to apply," he said.
"Recruitment and selection for the new positions will be based on the normal processes, which are open and merit-based."