[Owen H]

I wish I could give you one document that explains the philosophy, but there isn't just one. If you're interested in Safety Management Systems, there is copius documentation on the CASA website under education. One document discussing the fact that it is the whole company that is essential in safety is here.

Please tell me what groundbreaking new safety ideas have come from this person being able to speak his mind, in a nice safe closed culture with apparently no real fear of any recriminations at all?????

I think you are missing the point here. It isn't about him coming up with safety ideas. Its about errors and violations being able to be reported freely, both in the past and in the future, without the fear that those reports will be used to prosecute. Open reporting in a safe, confidential manner is essential - the CEO document I have linked you to discusses that, particularly in the last paragraph.

Just as another aside - I find it interesting that everyone assumes the first court (which I might add was assembled before a full investigation had been conducted by safety authorities) got the decision right, and that the higher authority court got the decision wrong. We do not know any of the evidence that was presented, and there may have been many reasons that the higher court overturned the decision of the first, some of which were not related specifically to this pilot's guilt.