Sigh. Nothing ever changes. The desk-job mentality is alive and well. I was actually formally asked to reconsider a few months after I resigned and I offered (in writing) to return on my former pay scale so long as I had an ironclad contract stating I would be permanently employed in flying duties, my presence was not required unless performing flying or directly flying/flying training related duties, and I had some locational stability. Guess what the response was? I could almost hear the laughter emanating from DPO from here in Sydney. This was less than 5 years ago.
I vividly remember being told by a certain boss of mine (who incidentally was a great boss anyway and is now in a position in the ADF where his only superiors are politicians) when I got posted back to flying duties, that the most important thing for my promotional prospects was how I performed my secondary duties! Felt like ripping my wings off and chucking them over my shoulder! But this attitude is the norm.
The experience problem is real and as bad or worse than ever. Had a discussion not long ago with a couple of my former peers, one of whom was still in the RAAF and one of whom was "in the know" directly regarding flying safety, about the latest round of flying incident reports emanating from my old haunts. I was just gob-smacked at some of the situations, and even more gob-smacked at some of the written responses (like "aaww, she'll be right mate" sort of responses). It was really extremely worrying.