CASA Media Release - 30 September 1999
Assistant Director resumes duties
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority's Assistant Director Aviation Safety Compliance, Mr Laurie Foley, is to resume normal duties.
Mr Foley voluntarily stood aside from operational duties while a review of the process of his appointment was completed.
The CASA Board has considered the review by lawyer Stephen Skehill and endorsed its findings.
The Skehill review examined the circumstances surrounding Mr Foley's application in 1998 for the position of Assistant Director Aviation Safety Compliance, which was made while he was a member of the CASA Board.
The Skehill review found Mr Foley had made an inadvertent breach of his duties as a Board member under section 21 of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997.
This resulted from a failure by Mr Foley to inform a May 1998 CASA Board meeting of his intention to apply for the position of Assistant Director.
But the review says the breach was "an inadvertent act of omission" and Mr Foley "did not seek to inappropriately conceal" his interest in the position.
The present CASA Board is critical of Mr Foley for the omission on the grounds of lack of judgement but does not believe it should prevent Mr Foley resuming his duties.
The Skehill review also found that Mr Foley was "fully entitled to apply for the position of Assistant Director Aviation Safety Compliance and it would have been wrong for the authority to refuse to accept an application".
The review says the appointment decision was taken independently, without any influence from the Board.
Mr Skehill noted that the conduct of his inquiry took longer than expected due to the need for extensive investigation and research and the need to allow Mr Foley appropriate opportunities to look at documents and make submissions.
Media contact
Peter Gibson
ph 02 6217 1015
mobile 0419 296 446
Ref: ME9948PR