I hesitate to comment because we are talking about a tragedy - someone's life here. A family shattered. I feel uncomfortable about using this incident to push an agenda by AOPA (as much as I think CASA is a debacle and that I generally support AOPA).
Dispassionately looking at it, he had to judge between letting a MR expire and flying into IMC without training or appropriate equipment. He in the end, chose the second option.
If you stuff up and overrun an MR I would say better to fly with an expired MR, with a risk of a fine (probably unlikely), than fly into IMC and gamble your life! (Of course best option would be - wear the inconvenience - get an approval but whatever)
We drum into student pilots the incredible folly of going into IMC if not trained or equipped. Pilot's will (almost) universally say how foolish it is. Yet... it keeps happening!
That to me is the issue. Why? It has been like this for ever. This is where the problem lies. People keep doing it! And in the huge majority of cases *not* because of expired MRs !
Whether it is to facilitate maintenance, pressure to get home or whatever, the responsibility is on the pilot to choose what to do, (not on the regulator, passengers or family wanting to get home or whoever is applying the pressure).
Could there be better options to ferry aircraft needing maintenance? Sure but my personal opinion is - not for reason that lacking such options forces people into IMC. Claiming it is CASAs fault in this case doesn't gel with me (and I think it is inappropriate for AOPA to use it here - this is a tragedy where a pilot pushed into IMC, not an issue of a regulator forcing him to do it).
I am unhappy that AOPA are linking this here.
My (personal) 2c