AOPA can't help you and AFAP will only help you if you are a member.
Look VERY carefully before becoming a contractor.
1. I believe the Award can only be varied (for an AWA etc) with the approval of the AFAP and/or Industrial Relations Commission. Contrary to the myriad of "employment conditions" signed by many in the GA industry, these aren't worth the paper they are written on.
2. There are specific guidelines the ATO and other govt departments use for employment classification. There is a document somewhere on the ATO or DEWR websites. It lists exactly what conditions need to be met to classify as a contractor. Briefly, a contractor provides their own equipment to do the contracted work/task, completes the task to their own schedule and can contract for any number of companies.
I have spoken to ATO, DEWR and a host of insurance companies. Not one agrees that you can provide contract services as an individual pilot. Contracting companies are a different story.
Of interest, when I rang around a few insurance companies, they all said it would be prohibitively expensive and why wasn't my employer taking care of it.
I think CASA might also be interested in the insurance angle. Doesn't part of your AOC approval process ensure the company and crew are suitably insured?
Good luck!