Ah statistics.
According to the FAA, there were 25,212,000 general aviation hours flown in the USA in 2018.
Let’s round the numbers and say that Australia has 1/22nd of the population of the USA.
24,212,00 divided by 22 = 1,680,000.
According to BTRE, in 2017 (the most recently-available stats) “general aviation hours flown by VH-registered aircraft [in Australia] decreased by 3.6 per cent to 1.20 million hours”. 25% less than in the USA.
Please define your terms, Squawk.
Anyone who’s been around for a while can remember the amount of work that used to be done by GA that is no longer being done by GA, in and out of aerodromes that are now veritable ghost towns. That outcome is a consequence of many things, but foremost amongst them is the inexorably increasing complexity and consequent cost of the regulatory regime, administered mainly by a variety of people - some out of their depth but (dangerously and blissfully) unaware of that fact, others on a crusade to save the world and believing they are doings so, and yet others on an ego trip - and also amongst them is the sell off or abandonment of aerodrome infrastructure by the Commonwealth. (“Common Wealth” - that’s what it used to be. Sad really.)