From the discussion about getting permission from the CAA and paying a fee, one of our CASA FOI's summed it up for me on one occasion: they are granting you an exemption to break the law and have every right to ensure that whoever signs off on the exemption will not be held to account. There may be further limitations imposed by the FOI, depending on the flying requirement and the pilot/equipment, or there may not. We were granted a permanent low flying ops permission (as are many AOC holders) which imposed certain criteria, but the cost was negligible and the benefits to both CASA and the operator are obvious. They don't get tied up dealing with lots of approvals, and the operator self regulates within the conditions of the permission.
Whilst the CAA and CASA can both seem overly restrictive, if you seek to deliberately operate outside the Rules and Regulations you should make sure that your backside is properly covered. In the scheme of things a fee for a permission is inevitably much less than the cost of a court case.