Rat, I have no idea why AIPA will not answer your query. Perhaps they are busy taking care of more serious and pressing issues than your demands for an answer. Perhaps at the meeting someone will explain the reason it is being held on that day, I really don't know. If you're attending and you still see it as a big issue then no doubt you can ask someone there from AIPA face to face.
What I do know is that there is often far more going on behind the scenes than is obvious to the average punter like myself. My guess? - The issue at hand requires participation by several parties, AIPA, AFAP, JPCC and the 'to and fro' that occurs when multiple parties (often with conflicting agendas/beliefs) try and tackle something can quite often lead to slow forward progress. I imagine that by the time AIPA or whoever decided a pilot meeting would be a good idea it was too late to get it happening before the election. People need adequate notice to attend so they can make plans and the organisers want ample time for word to spread to guarantee a good turn out. Do you really think some pilots complaining about offshoring of jobs will make big news in an election week ahead of issues such as $43Billion for broadband, trillion dollar economy management, asylum seeker policy etc etc? For my money it's quite smart to have it after the election where it stands a chance of being picked up by the media and given appropriate attention instead of taking the risk of it just being seen as a pre-election grab for attention by disgruntled pilot unions.
You may see it as 'very suss' but 'my china' I suspect it's just the way things have panned out and I re-affirm my belief that results will come from pilot actions, which may in turn sway government policy.
Last edited by slim; 17th Aug 2010 at 10:49.