The establishment of an Australian Pilots Association (APA) to unite all commercial pilots and bring AFAP & AIPA under one umbrella is not new. The BALPA model is well known to the Execs in both AFAP & AIPA; who know and understand that it has been tested in the UK and has been found, ‘by n large,’ to be robust and resilient.
Tried to get it to fly during my time at the helm of AIPA, but as usual, the usual protagonists on both sides of the fence managed to stymie it. As previous posters have already pointed out:- it time the same 10 or so clowns stoped bleating and stoped throwing stones at anyone trying to advance the prosperity of pilots and the companies they work for.
With globalisation bearing down on the Virgin and Qantas Groups, it’s time for Qantas Group pilots to embrace innovative change which, inter alia, means merging AFAP & AIPA to bring into existence an Australian Pilots Association (APA)
That the MBF Trustees appear to understand that the MBF needs new blood if it is to grow and continue to offer very attractive LOL insurance to its members, is I believe, compelling reason to bring on the AFAP/AIPA merger asap. 
Last edited by WoodenEye; 16th Aug 2009 at 02:02.