Aye Cap'n.....'tis really only 29 years wasted you know.....
12 / 12 / '91 was the FIRST 'Cut' of FS services, and the FIRST redundo pkgs followed shortly thereafter.
FIS Services to VFR acft deleted W.E.F. that date.
The second 'cut' was 11/11/93, and do you know, I cannot even recall just what it/they was/were.....And.....Does it matter now?
IFR Services were as per 'normal' - Remember the 'arse-covering' phrase 'No KNOWN Tfc' ? (vice 'no traffic')
Somewhere in the meantime, MBZ's were introduced into the Pilbara mining areas - so that 'Traffic' need not be given in these areas.
They were deemed to be 'too busy' for that....
It became a 'help yerself' area. Once a pilot announced 'Going MBZ', our Traffic responsibility finished, although we still held his SAR for arrival.
(However, a lot of FSO's at the time, continued giving the traffic info as they feared the consequences of 'Duty of Care' under commom law..)
(Or, were MBZ'z introduced PRIOR to our 'first cut'. I simply cannot remember....(Oletimers)
So, I APOLOGISE NOW...IF I have to!
I may have mentioned in another post looong ago that, in the INITIAL 'brief' of the proposed new rules to us in FS, it was proposed that a IFR category acft, flying in VMC, was to be treated as a VFR flight..!!
i.e. IFR Category Acft flying in VFR 'Procedures'.. = See and be seen.
Thank goodness this was not implemented
But, you are TOTALLY CORRECT SIR - 'Total chaos and continual change....'
And STILL NO 'satisfactory' system.
Cheers...