Thanks Mach, I wasn't aiming the question at you and agree with what you say, particularly the second paragraph, I've had plenty of gaslighting on this thread but there will always be those types on a forum like this. I just genuinely asked for a citation so I could run the usual checks you do on any stats (source, sample size, methods of collecting data, biases, conflicts of interest etc etc) and am still waiting.
I don't have time right now but it would be interesting to see how many of those Australian accidents were newbies heading up north and getting into strife in the wet season. Not all of Australia is benign all the time. Even in Perth we can get some wild weather in winter, poor vis due to smoke in summer etc - things that could trap the unwary VFR pilot..