The conclusive answer to this question i believe lies in the EX82/21 as werbil and anyone else mentioned:
exempted transport operation means one of the following:
(a) the operation or use of an aircraft by a company, a partnership, or a sole trader (the business):
(i) for the carriage of passengers, or goods (not being goods for sale or exchange); and
(ii) where the predominant purpose of the carriage is to facilitate the conduct of the operator’s business; and
(iii) where the facilitation is merely ancillary to conducting the business; and
(iv) where no passenger gives any reward for the carriage of themselves, or otherwise shares in the costs of the carriage; and Authorised Version F2023C01072 registered 06/12/2023
Instrument number CASA EX82/21 (as amended) Page 6 of 16 pages
(v) where the carriage of any passenger, or the passenger’s notional share of the costs of the carriage, is not rewarded by anyone else; and
(vi) where the aircraft is flown by a pilot who is a related pilot, or a professional pilot employed by the business to fly the aircraft; and
Note The word pilot, in the singular, includes pilots, plural, if applicable.
(vii) where the aircraft used has a maximum certificated passenger seating capacity that is not greater than 19;
While this is great news, it has also unravelled a whole new set of things to consider insurance wise. I wonder how useful aviation consultants/lawyers would be in this situation.
Regarding the mentoring and support as I build flight experience, yes, having a HOFO may be great, but there are other ways to achieve the same goal. I hope to meet plenty of experienced pilots and mentours in the course of this opportunity, who are willing to pass on experience and lessons.
I understand that if you are an operator, you may despise operations like this, hoping contracts like this come to you instead. But its just a reality for the hundreds of pilots, who are unable to drop everything to head to the top end for 6 months, continue paying for time-building, or wait around hoping for calls back. If you are an operator in the top half of Australia, you just know there are at least 20 new resumes on your desk a day. I can't think of any other industry like that. Its a different reality being on the other end of the straw.
Also, I left a check and training system that was so fast paced and intense, that it required me to learn more than expected if I wanted to fly. Or if i wasnt happy with something, go home, learn everything about it, before jumping back into the cockpit. It was all performance based, with little room for error without consequence ($$ for the remedial & getting ripped into by your instructor). By the end of the training, the attitude towards learning and flying is ingrained in you, and i can appreciate the hard love looking back.
There are plenty of ways to manage the risks. Sometimes you have to take your own leadership, and find and be your own mentor. Take bits and pieces from everyone. Maybe even from pprune.