Well said that man.
Since 89' AIPA have been THE prominent pilots association in Australia. Even at it's zenith, the Ansett Pilots Association only had some 720 odd members, versus AIPA's 2000 odd at that time.
Yet despite it's strength AIPA has never taken any more than a passing interest in events outside of those effecting Qantas pilots directly.
In the meantime, their employer has establised Jet operations in:
Airlink
Jet Connect
Jetstar Asia
Jetstar Australia
and Express Freighters Australia
Meanwhile, in the industry Southern Australia pilots were led out and shot
Eastern pilots continue to fester and that just in the Qantas group.
When are AIPA going to wake up and realise that what happens in the GA and regionals does have an impact on them. Even the collapse of Ansett has to some extent had a negative impact on AIPA members by providing experienced pilots to assist in establishing Jetstar / Jetstar Asia and Jetconnect.
Whilst I do not think the answer lies with 200k pilots telling GA drivers what jobs they can take, maybe AIPA should adopt a 'paternal' role in helping to establish standards in GA / regionals etc.
At the end of the day, if a regional Captain were earning $110k plus in a Dash 8, would he take a $30k drop to join Jetstar?