Yep - I would much rather know that the F/O of any aircraft i was a passenger on had spent thousands of hours flying a C-182 in the middle of nowhere, because that would be so much more valuable than someone who had passed a Ground School, and Simulator course to obtain a Type Rating to operate a sophisticated Airliner to Airline Standard SoP's.............especially if we had to do a practice forced landing into a paddock somewhere!
Why do Australians think that they are superior to other parts of the world when it comes to the qualifications required to sit in the RHS of a modern Airliner. If you are trained to do the job - you can do it.
I dont see aircraft dropping out of the sky all over Europe because the 200hr F/O accidently switched the Fuel control Switch to off instead of pressing the cabin Crew call button!!!
I have flown in both parts of the world, and believe me.......the naivety of some of the contributors to this area of this sight never ceases to amaze me..........maybe there is a reason some of them havent yet made it into that elusive RHS........and it has nothing to do with how much money they are prepared to pay for a job.