Senator MACKAY —My question is directed to the Minister representing the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Senator Ian Macdonald. Has the minister's attention been drawn to the allegations made by the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Mr Dick Smith, into the so-called class G airspace trial? Is the minister aware that, through these allegations, the chairman has impugned the motives and the integrity of the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation, Ansett executive Mr Trevor Jensen, and the RAAF? What action does the minister propose to ensure that public confidence in Australia's aviation system is not undermined by these allegations? Does Mr Smith retain the full confidence of the minister, given the serious impact his comments are having on air safety regulation? Will the minister take this opportunity to give a rock solid guarantee that the review into BASI will be made public?

Senator IAN MACDONALD (Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) —The first question was whether I was aware of Mr Smith's comments. Yes, I was aware and, Senator Mackay, you should know that because I was in the same estimates committee as you were when the matter was raised. In fact, I was sitting about 12 centimetres from Mr Smith at the time. So in answer to your first question, yes, I was aware of that.

There were some other questions asked by Senator Mackay, and they related, I think, to the comments that Mr Smith has made. Mr Anderson, the minister in the other chamber, has been through this matter quite exhaustively, but he has indicated that the government does have confidence in Mr Smith and does have confidence in CASA, BASI and Airservices Australia. There is, as the minister indicated, an inquiry being held into BASI, but that is part of an ongoing inquiry into all of our air safety operations and air safety agencies. That is an exercise that has been going on for some time now. It is not being done specifically as a result of Mr Smith's allegations.

It is also important to note in passing that Senator Mackay referred to allegations made against Ansett and others. She very cleverly omitted the fact that Mr Smith said—and I cannot confirm or deny what Mr Smith has said—that Ansett took a position under pressure from the unions. That seems to have been overlooked in a lot of the matters that were raised. So it was under pressure from the unions, according to Mr Smith. I do not confirm or deny the accuracy of these statements because I simply do not know, but Mr Smith said that Ansett were pressured by the unions. I was pleased to see that Senator Brown, the Greens senator from Tasmania, leapt to Mr Smith's defence and raised some very interesting questions. In fact, it was interesting to see Senator Brown defending Mr Smith, but that is of course another issue.

The government does retain confidence. As I said, the inquiry will be going ahead. I think Mr Anderson has announced the terms of reference of the inquiry. I did indicate at estimates, on advice, that he was going to announce the terms of reference of the inquiry. I assume—I must confess I have not caught up with it this week—the terms of reference have been announced. Can I refer the senator to those terms of reference, and she will no doubt get all of the answers to all of her questions.

Senator MACKAY —Madam President, I ask a supplementary question. Yes, Minister, the terms of reference are out and have been out for about a week now. Is the minister aware that Mr Smith stated that the Deputy Chief of Air Force `sat at every meeting, [and] a program implementation group, giving Mick Toller every bit of support every bit of the way' only to reverse the RAAF position later? Is the minister also aware that the Deputy Chief of Air Force told an estimates committee hearing that the RAAF had five areas of concern about the trial and advised CASA of those concerns at three meetings and in two letters? Does the minister endorse Air Vice Marshal Espeland's evidence or the allegations levelled against him by Mr Smith? And, finally, will you give a rock solid guarantee that the review into BASI will be made public?

Senator IAN MACDONALD (Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) —There were several questions, but I think they were all `am I aware of something', `was I aware of things' or `do I endorse' what some of the chiefs of staff people said. I suppose I am as much aware of them as anyone else. I have read what has been said in the paper. I must confess that I have been doing things for regional Australians, so I have not caught up with the detail of all of this. I am aware of those comments. That is the answer to that question.

Do I endorse what the Air Vice Marshal said? I do not know specifically what he said, so I cannot endorse or deny it. I am not sure what the question intended. And will the BASI results be made public? Again, Mr Anderson would have mentioned that when he raised the terms of reference. If you do not know, if you did not quite catch on to that, I will put that to Mr Anderson and see if he wants to give you a response.