To answer your question
Statman -----
YES! 
Those of us who have ventured OUTSIDE the Goldfish Bowl (OZ) to see how it IS REALLY DONE are appauled.
Actually we have a saying:
If we let those idiots in Aussie ATC loose for an hour anywhere like Europe or Hongkong they would f
k it up so well it would take a month to sort it out.
