I assume that he needed clearance to DESCEND to 8500 from about 150000 ft that he would have needed to be to glide from Lord Howe to the mainland.
This is the problem with this bloke - he only considers part of the risk.
He is perfectly happy flying his family to and from Lord Howe Island, an 800m odd strip in the middle of the ocean in a single engine aeroplane at 8500 ft, an altitude from which he would only have been able to glide into the water for the vast majority of his flight yet gets all excited when a clearance is not available over Australia's busiest CTA at 8500.
Why didn't he make landfall around Port Macquarie - that is closest bit of dirt to Lord Howe isn't it? He would have had a heap of airports to land on then..
What a Dick! (Smith)