User pays?
It appears that our government agencies
(businesses) are only interested in the big operators that run up and down the east coast. So what's new. They appear to be setting up a unique system that is useful to a few operators, in a small area of the country. So that's where the money should come from. Totally. The major airlines should pay ALL of the cost of the GRAS and ADSB. It's only for them.
Conversly, if they were to install the wide area system (as they should) that is useful to most of Australia's population, and would almost certainly have prevented the Lockhart River accident, then the whole country should pay for it. It is a national asset.
A long time ago, there were many DME equipped aircraft flying around Australia that could not use their DME except in the vicinity of one or two capital cities, because the ground stations were of a unique Australian type that would not work with their on board equipment. Eventually the system was changed to the international system.
It looks like we are going to do the same thing again.