Let nobody be in any doubt that the military have a historic responsibility to the elected government of the day. They, the government, are supposed to represent the voting public who put them there. Myself, once a commissioned officer often failed to take into consideration that factor and now well retired see how the higher echelons of military power accept that the plebs simply don't matter. Haven't since leaving field rank.
Skidmore and his ilk are appointed by the elected government of the day having passed through the lower and into general rank and well after any in house military promotion by ability or examination. They more than ever owe a duty to the elected government of the day who appointed them.
If that government by any name is ambivalent to aviation in Australia sans Airline and Military, that anointed person is not going to do anything to remedy any situation they see as simply perceived. They obviously have blinkered priorities and have lost all objectivity when it comes to carrying out the wishes of the populous who "elected" the government of the day, who "appointed" the individual to carry out the wishes of the government who have lost objectivity towards the people who elected them to look after their priorities.
The government has lost the plot and doesn't care.
The bureaucrats haven't lost the plot and run the show because they can.
Skidmore is a slave of the bureaucrats who have an agenda to rid the skies of aviation that is outside the envelope of the "illiminati" who reserve the right to own the skies free of pesky individuals in "little aeroplanes". ie. anything that is not an airliner or military or belonging to the gods.
Don't look to Skidmore as any sort of savior.
(my opinion of course if that's OK with you).