You don't realise just how bad the Oz system is - until you fly in the US, and...
...you don't realise just how bad the UK/JAR/EASA system is - until you fly in Oz.
Now Oz seems to be trying to move to an EASA based system!
In some ways I'm glad I fly in the US now (not pay & benefits) but the system here is a breath of fresh air compared to Oz.
Safety has always been based on 'affordability'. What changes from one era to the next is the perception of what is safe (enough), and what a country is prepared to pay for it. Dick just brought that idea to the forefront.
And, on the topic of affordable safety, just a couple of days ago I had a discussion with a wet-ink pilot on affordable safety. This time the topic was drug & alcohol screening. His position was that even if just one life was saved it's worth it. My counter argument was that - following the same logic - if even one life was saved then all pilots should be provided with instrument ratings and single engine aircraft outlawed. Further, the dollars put to D&A would be more effective if transferred to providing instrument ratings, multi licences & recurrency due to the utterly miniscule number of lives lost that were caused by D&A issues but the much greater loss of life due IMC, system failure & mishandling.
He couldn't see it and opined that both should be done. Never mind he's from Egypt and one reason for learning in the US is price! Talk about mutually exclusive options...