Looking solely at the Captains wages - there are not many companies in Australia that would have that many people earning $250k +
Actually, I think you'd be surprised.
Re salaries - to the vast majority of joe public on an avg wage of $55k or something, those wages are over the top.
I would ask Joe to compare apples with apples.
I have often compared the airline pilot profession to that of anaesthetists. A family friend of mine is one. We have spoken of the remarkably similar physical and psychological skills required. There are quite a few similarities between his and my attitudes towards pre-op (flight planning), sedation (preflight), main event (cruise)((magazines/operational material perusal)) and the all important post op, bringing the patient to (approach and landing), often the most challenging time. There are the common dynamics of having to work with various personalities during vastly different procedures. Much like we are required to work with different crew almost every time we go to work, to destinations with varied procedures and degrees of difficulty, often at short notice. Obviously my friend has spent a hell of a lot more time training and of course there are other differences. Our aircraft generally perform pretty consistently, patients less so. He often has to prep and step up at shorter notice than I, with little patient details. However, I still think the jobs are quite similar. At the end of the day cool heads and wealth of experience (actually being able to call on that experience, not just paying lip service to a buzzword) will contribute to the best possible result.
So, what's he on? After around 20 years experience, well over $200,000, certainly less than $300,000. Pretty comparable i'd say.