I can't help but feel that there is something else happening here, and that people like me are going to get the wrong end of the stick again. We've convinced Vaile to stop the Flightwatch transmitters from being shut down (presuming the Shadow Minister agrees). Now AsA will say that the directive from the minister will do them out of $500K and the government (regardless of which one) will have to allow them to recover the cost. In line with the 'user pays' policy (which Labor won't roll back), an extra charge will be levied on PPL for the privilege of having a Flightwatch service we don't use.
Yes, I know that commercial flights use it too, but they have the luxury of claiming it all on tax. Those of us who pay out of our own pockets are flying less and less because we have to pay so much to the government (which AsA and CASA are still!)
Sorry, I keep forgetting that most of the people on this forum are CPLs or controllers who don't have to pay for their flying and therefore wouldn't understand the concept.
Walrus