Sadly, the GA horse has bolted
I'm concerned that as prices for everything in GA keep going up fewer and fewer people with part with their readies ..... the whole industry will hit a point where it is no longer feasible for LAMEs to keep going, pilot shops, flying schools, etc.
Flying is never going to be cheap, but the sale of airports to property developers and super fund managers et al, the requirement for government corporations to become self funding or even profitable, and a series of governments intent upon destroying any cross subsidisation has left us in a position where it will be too expensive to go back.
What's the future? Sport aviation? Sure, if you just want to burn holes in the sky .... but what about GA as a valid form of personal and public transportation? GA requires access to certain infrastructure and a certain industry critical mass.
I hope I'm wrong, but all I see suggests that GA will be dead in the capital cities and larger regional centres within 15 years. Not necessarily so the outback, it'll just keep on in its crooked way ripping off pilots and throwing dodgy 40 year old aircraft into the air.
Bleak, huh?