EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statement of Expectations for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority from 1 November 2025 to 30 June 2027
Issued by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
Civil Aviation Act 1988
Outline
This Statement of Expectations (SoE) is issued by the Minister as a notice under section 12A of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act), addressed to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
Section 12A of the Act provides that the Minister may notify the Board of CASA in writing of the Minister’s views on CASA’s strategic direction and the manner in which it should perform its functions.
This SoE outlines the Minister’s expectations of CASA during the period 1 November 2025 to 30 June 2027, and replaces the SoE issued on 30 June 2023.
The SoE includes sections on governance, strategic direction and manner of performance, key initiatives and stakeholder engagement. CASA is also expected to comply with relevant legislation.
The SoE refers to ‘CASA’ throughout, which relates to both the CASA Board and CASA as an organisation. Where an expectation relates to a specific party, the party is specified.
In preparing the SoE, the Government has consulted with experts in CASA as the persons likely to be affected by the instrument. Consultation was undertaken through electronic communications and meetings during the period 29 April to 12 September 2025. All contributions from CASA were considered in developing the SoE.
Notices issued under Section 12A of the Act are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003. Table item 9 in section 10 of the Legislation (Exemptions and Other Matters) Regulation 2015 (the Regulations) provides that notices given under section 12A of the Act are not subject to disallowance. The exceptional circumstances which justify this exemption from disallowance are:
- A notice issued under section 12A (including this SoE) is not likely to be legislative in character, as it informs CASA of the Minister’s policy objectives and does not alter or determine the content of the law.
- The exemption of notices under section 12A from disallowance is consistent with the general exemption from disallowance for ‘[a]n instrument that is a direction by a Minister to any person or body’ (in table item 2 of section 9 of the Regulations)—the specific exemption for notices under section 12A in table item 9 in section 10 of the Regulations is intended to remove any doubt as to whether that general exemption applies to such notices.
- The exemption from disallowance ensures that there is no adverse impact on the exercise of the executive functions. As was noted in the Explanatory Statement to the Regulations, “This instrument [i.e. a notice under s 12A of the Act) is a notice by the Minister to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Board on strategic direction. The arrangement constitutes circumstances in which the Parliament has intended executive control to operate, and subjecting these instruments to disallowance would undermine this intent.”
Details of the SoE are set out in the Attachment.
Authority: Section 12A of the Civil Aviation Act 1988
ATTACHMENT
Details of the Statement of Expectations
Section 1: Overview
This section confirms the name of the instrument, its duration, its replacement of the SoE issued on 13 June 2023.
Section 2: Governance
This section sets out the Minister’s expectations of the Board of CASA and the Director of Aviation Safety (DAS), including effective management of CASA’s resources, capabilities, strategic direction, risks, corporate planning, operations and organisational capacity.
This section also sets out Ministerial expectations regarding CASA’s transparency and the need for CASA to keep the Minister and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts fully informed about developments, particularly those which may materially impact upon CASA’s operations.
Section 3: Strategic direction and manner of performance
This section sets the Minister’s expectations regarding CASA’s strategic direction and manner of performance of its key functions, statutory requirements and international obligations.
In particular, this section confirms the Minister’s expectation that CASA must regard the safety of air navigation as the most important consideration, and that CASA will continue to be a world leading aviation safety regulator, operating in accordance with its Regulatory Philosophy.
Section 4: Key Initiatives
This section outlines the Minister’s expectation that CASA will focus on key initiatives outlined within this section of the SoE, and the manner in which CASA will fulfil its related obligations.
The following documents mentioned in this section can be obtained as follows:
- Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) Action Plan details projects and workstreans that will be delivered across government up to 2026 and can be freely obtained at https://www.drones.gov.au/policies-and-initiatives/policies/uncrewed-traffic-management.
- The Safety Information Policy Statement outlines the reporting, use and sharing of transport safety information and can be freely obtained at https://www.atsb.gov.au/safety-information-policy-statement.
Section 5: Stakeholder Engagement
This section details the Minister’s expectations that CASA will engage effectively, transparently and regularly with stakeholders regarding its activities and functions, including delivering optimal safety advice to Government, the aviation sector and the broader community.
Human Rights Compatibility
This is a legislative instrument which is not subject to disallowance. Consequently, no Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is required (per section 9 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011).
The Hon. Catherine King MP
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government