Capt - I am not sure how my comment about UNICOMs became an opinion about the passing of critical met information. Under the old CAR120 (I'm not sure it still exists) a pilot could only accept such information from someone certified by the BoM and issued with an approval by CASA. Theoretically, a UNICOM operator could obtain such approval, however, how would the pilot know they had one?
TIEW
1 - CASA and Airservices legislation requires them to treat safety as the first priority - who is going to pay supposedly is a lower priority. Not sure who owns the navaids at MNG but I do know that Ballina airport owns the NDB at BNA! If I was them I would only switch it on when someone booked it for training.
2 - I did not mention frequency congestion, you have answered my question!