Australia’s aviation regulator has promised to investigate a potentially illegal drone flight over Parliament House that was used to film material for a Pauline Hanson video on Facebook, a Senate inquiry has heard.
The video was posted to the One Nation leader’s Facebook page in June and includes aerial shots from above an oval next to Parliament House.
Vision shot by news cameras on the day shows Senator Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby piloting a drone.
Representatives from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority were questioned on the regulation of remote-control aircraft by a Senate committee on Tuesday.
“If I have footage of a drone floating over Parliament House... what would you do?” Labor senator Glenn Sterle asked the CASA staff.
Pauline Hanson appeared in the video uploaded to the One Nation Facebook page in June. Source: One Nation
“This is the kind of thing we would investigate,” replied Dr Jonathan Aleck, CASA’s head of legal affairs.
The senator then asked how he could lodge an official complaint about the One Nation shoot.
“We will take that request, Senator, and have it investigated,” CASA chief Shane Carmody replied. “I will take it as a formal complaint and request for investigation.”
The regulator said any flight over Parliament House would fall foul of the CASA rules.
“Parliament House is within the control zone of Canberra Airport so that operation is in fact not appropriate,” Dr Aleck said.
Senator Sterle asked if that meant the flight may be “illegal”, to which Dr Aleck said “yep”.
A smartphone app called 'Can I Fly There'released by CASA allows drone pilots to check drone no-fly zones on a map.
The app confirms Parliament House is within the exclusion zone around Canberra Airport.
A CASA spokesman told SBS World News the regulator had been aware of the Parliament House flight for some time.
CASA's app shows the red no-fly zone around Canberra Airport includes Parliament House Source: SBS/CASA
Mr Carmody said he was not sure if an investigation was already underway. “I was under the impression we might have already, but I would like to look at it and see whether in fact we have,” Mr Carmody said.
SBS World News has contacted Mr Ashby, who flew the drone, for a response.
A screenshot shows the aerial view of Parliament House in the One Nation video. Source: SBS/One Nation
Townsville drone flight investigation is complete
The regulator confirmed it had also concluded its investigation into Senator Hanson flying a drone from a hotel balcony in Townsville.
CASA would not disclose whether any warning or fine had been imposed.
The matter was discussed with the Senate committee in private, with media not allowed to enter.
