There is no doubt that the changes are a shock to the way Australian aviation operates. Frequently one hears IFR separation standards used to self separate, ie "you maintain 3,500 I'll maintain 4,500 until we pass," and in most Class D and C airspace controllers still separate traffic as if it was B. Perhaps this is "safer", (perhaps we would be safer if one was still required to have a man with a red flag walk ahead of any motor vehicle, as once was the case) but overseas experience indicates that it is overkill. Traffic levels overseas simply preclude that level of chatter. My experience with the much referred to "radar service" in the States has more been in the order of "multiple VFR targets your area" rather than the personal separation service that one would imagine exists judging from some of the posts here. Many Australians appear to believe that to manouevre to avoid traffic is some sort of emergency rather than a normal every day occurence.
There always was a great deal more traffic out there than the two VMC pilots unable to pass in safety without half a dozen transmissions each, jamming the airwaves for hundreds of miles around..