I don't know how arduous the Australia CPL course is, but I suspect that it is not dissimilar to the UK and indeed any other. The bottom line is this. If you put your mind to it, you can get a frozen ATPL, with an IR, a couple of type ratings and maybe one or two speciallity ratings in say 15 months. That allows you at least to call yourself a fully paid up member of the professional pilot community. Just over a year.
Now take for instance an electrician. Apprenticeship that takes 4 or 5 years including college. An accountant / lawyer / design engineer / teacher - 3 or 4 years at uni followed by 2 or more years on the job training followed by exams. So where does that put us? Nothing more than machinery operators. Complicated machinery I grant you, but simply machinery operators. Until we have to do proper qualifications to be allowed to fly, pilots will remain poorly paid. As for experience, every employer wants experience - it is expected of any trade or profession. Experience gets you the top wack wage. Until you have experience, expect to be paid accordingly.
Now I am not saying that this is necessarily right, but I believe that pilots generally have an over inflated opinion of themselves, their profession and wage expectations. Companies only pay what they have to. If you want a cushy number close to home flying tourists around Sydney, don't expect to be paid as well as someone doing Offshore SAR in the Norwegian Sea.