coral;
Thinking for the last few days about your post. I don't think ATC were the brunt of the article and I don't subscribe to that theory anyway.
There are a lot of organisations, unions, and interested parties with individual agendas who, combined, could force some change, but I think individually they are weak and have let things like the list below, (as a short example), go under the radar. (pardon the pun).
Over prescriptive regulation.
Full cost recovery from a "gutted" industry.
OLC- see item 1.
The Townsville branch of CASA.
Cronyism and corruption.(watch this space with the LHR matter).
The ASIC debacle.
The AVID debacle.
The negative, Part 47 registration.
Security locking devices.
Medical fees.
Airservices pushing a free ADSB install for everyone. (a lie).
The idea of mandatory ADSB in the lower levels by CASA.and no freebies.
Active support for ADSB implementation, but now only with a slight possibility of a subsidy despite no application for a subsidy being made by anyone.
The carving up of GAAP real estate.
Privatisation.
Corporatisation.
And there are probably heaps more that escape me right now, but all the above have cost GA / Australian aviation heaps. Most have just given up because it is all too hard.
I am not now in a position to propose anything that would make things better except to continue to highlight the mess and put it on trial in places like Pprune.