Flying Into The Future: The Latest From The Australian Senate Inquiry Into Drones

After an 18 month period of consultation with operators, regulators and business, the long awaited Australian Senate Inquiry report into the current and future regulatory framework for remotely piloted aircraft (drones) in Australia was released on 31 July 2018.

The report recommendations are likely to lead to a suite of significant amendments to Australia's current drones regulations over the coming months affecting commercial and recreational users.

Key recommendations

Among the 10 recommendations made by the Senate committee, key points were:

• the immediate reform of the current regulations (Part 101 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998) which commenced in September 2016 and which had the effect of (controversially) relaxing the rules for drones weighing less than 2kg, a position that the Senate committee was critical of;