I would like to suggest that there are one or two categories missing from Danny's carefully constructed pecking order that perhaps might be worth including since they have a rather large effect on the life of professional pilots one way or another, if only for completness.
I'm not sure they would merit their own area on Pprune since I have not known very many who would post, or even could post without being rather too easily identifiable.
The first of these are the professionals who design and manufacture your aircraft.
The second are the managers and schedulers within the airline that attempt to provide a suitably maintained and equipped aircraft for you to fly at the appropriate place and time.
The third are the accountants who have to figure out what its all going to cost.
The latter two groups seem to be invisible from the cockpit, but without their largely unsung work nothing happens.
As for differences between Australia and Europe and the various p***ing contests, there are a number of pluses and minuses on both sides.
Australia doesn't have very many snow covered runways, congestion and rotten European weather although I'm sure the QF International pilots get their fair share. Perhaps the job is easier because of it, I wouldn't know.
On the other hand, we don't have a large choice of local employers (ground and flight crew), and that has to color people's thinking and discourse here. At one stage the two old domestic airlines even had an unwritten agreement not to poach or even employ each others staff.
On an operational level, the fleets are relatively small here and the distances between major centres are rather large, which means the logistics and priorities are quite different from European operations, like having five state capitals and only four spare engines.
On a final note, the industry is relatively small here and closely connected, which means that, as evidenced by Pprune posts, that when some Cessna has an accident in the outback somewhere, some expat B747 driver will pipe up about spending time flying it years ago. The New Guinea thread is a case in point.
OK, I need to get out more, off to do some laps in the Cessna.