I think time would be better spent by not fighting these changes but by actively lobbying the government to give Qantas and every other employer an incentive to train to upskill their own blokes. Tax breaks, funding whatever. The government has been handing out cash year after year to the car industry which has shrunk unrecognisably, it would be a pittance compared to that. The government is the ones responsible for the current state but time won't be turned back on this regulation. We need everyone on board to train up our local workforce to be competitive in the world.
JHAS and AMSA for example will not employ a local 2 or 3 cat traditional LAME when they can assert the ones they want, 5 cat's, do not exist on shore - they then have justification to look overseas, so good luck getting this trade of the 457 list as long as this situation exists.
And to qualify the last statement, good luck getting the government to discriminate between LAME sub types in the 457 list to only allow super LAMEs.
Last edited by 600ft-lb; 4th Oct 2012 at 01:16.