H-man,
there are many, many reasons why flying training is relatively expensive here. An unco-operative tax regime, the cost of the CAA and JAA beurocracies, the costs of running airports and small aircraft in such a crowded country, high labour and social costs, etc, etc.
The fact that flying training is cheaper elsewhere is somewhat irrelevant, as, if you wish to work in the JAA area (Europe, roughly), you must have a JAA licence. Sure, you can go get a licence in Australia or South Africa (but probably not, for the moment I suspect, America), but you then have the cost of converting it to a JAA licence on your return. This is not cheap!
If, of course, you have the right to live and work in those other countries, there is little point in spending the money to get a JAA licence and then converting it to their version; you'd be better off doing the licence in those countries.
Sorry, but there it is!