I acually said it was one of the reasons that AIFEA and AIPA merged and it certainly was why the timing of the merge occurred when it did.
At the time AIFEA was being courted by a number of unions who wanted a foot in the aircrew door under the then minimum 10,000 union members rule.
As Brian Hill explains in his soon to be released book, it was a very successful move for both parties.
Wunwing