Current situation; two words - poorly managed!
Aussie, to be honest it really depends what fleet your on, I can only speak for the 50 seat category. If you're the type to get involved in politics you might as well save yourself some suffering and slit your wrists now. On a brighter note, the flying, the guys and the F/A's are great and good fun. Current training personel (a good guy) is a stretched comodity.
Salary prob better covered in prev posts i.e. if you sift back through the thread your bound to find something but broadly speaking around the 45g/ 95g incl of super depending what seat your butt is in.