The $84k is roughly equivalent to what the Grad Dip in Aviation costs at the Uni of South Australia. From memory, you still needed to 'tip in' approx $5k to complete your M/E rating - thats what I was told at the interview. The Grad Dip was supposed to train you from zero to CPL+ME/CIR in approx 12 months. Why this costs $87k and not $70k which is what you'd theoretically pay at a normal flying school is beyond me. As far as the fee help goes, the govt doesn't loan you the money for free. They add a whopping 20% (I believe) onto the total cost so $84k becomes $100k which is what you then repay once your income reaches a certain level (again around $48k or something which increases proportionately but capped at around 9% of gross salary). These numbers are from memory when I applied for the Grad Dip (which I got but declined to go private) so they could be wrong now.
There's got to be some 'fat' built into it somewhere. My accounting brain tells me it could be built into a/c hire rates, fuel charges, etc. Its a business after all.