Slightly deeper research shows that CASA employs 78 flying operations inspectors. (From the CASA annual report.) Assuming there are 40,000 pilots in Australia - that's 1 to 512. Which is less than the police to public ratio previously mentioned.
The total staff level of CASA is 871. The FAA employs 45,000 (of which are 36,000 are ATC). Transport Canada employs 5,500 people.
To put it into perspective - CASA has national oversight, not just NSW. There are 23m people in Australia - so there is 1 CASA employee for every 26,406 Australian citizens. Hardly an outrageous ratio, as has been previously misrepresented.
Last edited by HIALS; 10th Jul 2015 at 13:16.