If we are going to preach the safety message how about some strong analytics to support the case. Surely an organisation such as the ALAEA can undertake an analysis of major incidents such as hull write offs where maintenance error is a leading contributor. This would be an irrefutable platform to go forward with and demonstrate the value of a Qantas LAME to the public.
Having absolutely no basis other than gut feel, I would suggest that the number of incidents is relatively small and would have significantly declined over the past decade, particularly if the statistic was made relative to the number of flights operated. I would put this down to the amazing redundency capabilities of modern aircraft rather than anything else.
ALAEA Fed Sec, I challenge you to commision such a piece of work and I will be very very happy for you to prove me wrong. Maybe the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation could perform this as an independant thrid party.