FWIW in the not so old days, a couple of decades ago, the RAAF would hire X amount of recruits and by the time those recruits got to the "getting your wings" bit the RAAF would know how many of those recruits were required, either due to budget or actual crew requirements, and would scrub the appropriate number. So in other words, if you were unlucky you could be on a course that requires absolute aces to pass or conversely if you were lucky you could be on an average Joe course (average by RAAF standards).
Whilst I haven't heard this directly from the Minister for defence, it would explain some of the times I've looked across the flight deck and wondered "how the hell did you fly a Mirage/F18??"
