Airmann... it was an operating licence to carry pax across state borders, nothing to do with the pilots licence.
Probably a throw back from the days when there were state border posts to regulate and impose fees on incoming commerce.
one does have a right to free trade these days but CASA haven’t got that far yet.
As aviation hadn’t been invented then , no clauses in the Constitution to protect it. So here we are in the 21 st century with a looney corporate bureaucracy “running” (sic) the show.
To the great and costly detriment to the nation.
Sad but true.