In a rare display of bipartisanship, senators from both sides of parliament today asked for a freeze on the sale of small, or recreational, drones until stricter regulations can be put in place.
The call for a freeze was prompted by concerns over a terrorist attack, with recent online videos demonstrating ISIS-owned drones dropping grenades, and reports of drones increasingly being used to drop contraband into Australian jails. There's also the additional threat of drones causing damage to civilian aircraft as they fly in and out of densely populated areas.
The Coalition government promised a review on current regulations, but the senate was told that the points of reference of the review had not yet been finalised by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
Queensland Senator Barry O’Sullivan wasn’t happy about it, saying, “We're eight months from the announcement and we don't have a terms of reference? We've allowed 50,000 of these up into airspace while we're having a think about how they should operate. I'm trying to see if I'm the only one concerned about this.”
However, CASA insists that the review is ongoing and is awaiting an international report on drone safety before making any recommendations.
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