Lets just assume for a moment everything is fine about NAS....
That is, E airspace is an acceptable airspace to have jets on climb out of Sydney and Melbourne and also on descent. Lets just say that the whole idea of the new airspace design is hunky dory.
Just taking the frequency on charts issue in isolation, it worries me that the designers of this whole thing have cut off their nose to spite their face. I can see that their first priority in all this is to stop VFR broadcasts on ATC frequencys. They have said this is the case, they do not want unneccesary broadcasts on ATC frequencys, and their opinion is all VFR calls other than an emergency is unneccesary.
To encourage this change in pilot culture they have changed the charts so the VFR guys will have trouble finding the ATC frequencys hence making them less inclined to make broadcasts. Problem is the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater.
One thing more important than VFR broadcasts in E airspace is that VFR monitoring the frequency. This is a real safety issue, as I wouldn't really mind not having VFR broadcasts made, but when I see an unidentified VFR paint I think may be an issue for an aircraft I am controlling, it is a great relief to get contact with that VFR and find out his intentions, so I can pass those on to the IFR guy. Nothing worse than passing traffic to a guy, only to have the other guy start to change level, or make a sharp turn, contradicting what you've just told your guy.
So my question, just like everyone else is, if you are going to introduce more E airspace, and place more separation responsibilty onto these VFR pilots, shouldn't we be encouraging them to be able to at least hear if not talk to the IFR guys in the same airspace. Instead we hide all the frequencys???????
Aussie Andy, the present system of chatter on wide area frequencys only came about because of the first step towards affordable safety. That was the killing of flight service. This is just another step towards Dicks end state of affordable safety. All I can say is the wide area frequency chatter, has saved pilots backsides on occasions. And you may say one life isn't worth having all this for, but hell if its your life I bet you'd be glad it was there. And its not just separation, its passing on of real time first hand weather information, which is much more valuable than what you would ever get from the beaureau of Met.