In the ABC interview we learned that the pilot landed well out from the shore.Unfortunately he must not have been aware that salt lakes although they look smooth and lovely and hard in the middle actually dry from the shore and the last place to become hard is the deep middle area. Too many pilots have learned this lesson the hard way. There are hundreds of dry salt lakes scattered across inland Australia. If you are forced to land on one and don't have first hand information about the hardness of the surface land as near as you can to the shore where the shallow mud dries first.