If AvP is in the wrong here and engaging in a deliberate 'smear campaign', I'll send an email to Bevan expressing my disappointment.
If.
Will it cause the end of GA as we know it? No.
There are many reasons for the lack of sponsors for Airventure Australia. Those are the stark realities of an industry in its death throes as a consequence of consecutive stultifying mediocrities that Australia has called governments for the last couple of decades.