Dick,
its not just in Aviation. The whole "English" thing is a giant Rort making a lot of people and not just in Australian an awful lot of money.
The IELTS test, for example, set up by a company with a very official sounding name that would lead someone to imagine its a government institution. Its actually a private company that makes squillions of $$$ from very vulnerable people.
My wife, who is not Australian, works in the medical field, thirty years experience working almost everywhere in the world.
To practice in Australia she requires an IELTS score of 7.5, which equates to degree standard English, strange that our universities only required 6 for her to complete an additional masters degree.
At first I was amazed she couldn't achieve that result to practice in her profession, she could only manage a score of 7. To me her English was perfect, she had practiced all over the world including the USA, Canada, an UK, so I Paid and sat the test myself.
I was born in Australia, educated in Australia, hold a degree from an Australian university, I managed a score of 6.5.
U savi long pidgeon?
No wonder Australia is spiraling down the gurgler.