Good points bushy. With all respect however, I think for the first time in living memory, the 'wannabe' supply has been diminishing significantly over recent years. CPL issues have plummeted over the last 10 years, most Australian CPLs are issued to foreign cadets destined for airlines in their homelands of China and India.
Why would anybody now wish to commit to 200k worth of debt to get a job that pays at best 50k for an FO and that's after years of slooging it out to get to even that stage? The job has no allure anymore for young guys and this is not helped by locked cockpit doors etc.
Pilots are retiring, the military has downsized and far fewer wannabes are entering the business.
However airlines ordered up big a few years ago and are taking delivery of aircraft just as we emerge from the GFC.
Basic supply and demand (not our wily negotiating skills) will force those hard-nose businesspeople to pay whatever it takes to get pilots to join them. Of course there are benefits to living in Oz but why join Tiger or VA, never see your family and have to scrimp and save just to exist when you could nip off to Asia for 10 years and be set financially for life? Increasingly that's exactly what Aussies are doing and it will be the Tigers of this world that will need to improve things dramatically if they are to avoid cancelling flights and jeopardising their very profitability.
I wouldn't say 'happy days are here again' but I would say it's time for the boys at VA to start the ball rolling for significant improvements and the best way to do that is to join with the AIPA (and AFAP for that matter).
Good luck.