Given the cost of living in any decent city, $70k is still a 'mickey mouse' salary for any professional or trade-qualified person.
When I suggested $80k I was thinking that will be the new rate industry will have to pay for a Grade Three. Grade Ones will be in such demand they will easily be able to pull $120k, and for more advanced turbine twin training etc I reckon operators will have to go even higher.
As customers expect the latest equipment for their training, and CASA requirements become ever more stringent, instructor induction costs increase. Operators won't want a high instructor turnover. Instructing needs to become a career in its own right rather than the typical short term hour building caper it currently is for most.