I understood many that jumped across were Sydney boys willing to take a Canberra base and in several cases willing to going from Saab captain to ATR FO and move or even commute. There were a couple of exceptions. Most of the movement to the ATR is not all that recent. That might change if they were recruiting for Sydney ATR vacancies.
Without wishing to hijack the thread could you elaborate on why it is not so rosy on the ATR? I have only heard good things.