Ducky, there are a Thousand other tea cups! That is the problem.
Taken individually, yes. It's a storm in a tea cup. But isn't it the case that virtually every other regulation has similar exemptions attached to it? This is why we are drowning! There is no point in studying the regulations; they prohibit everything not covered by plain vanilla Qantas RPT.
The problem we have here is structural - whole swathes of the Aviation industry for example RAA and Experimental, exist only by virtue of exemptions!
Then there are the emerging technologies - UAV's, ADS -B, EFB's advanced EFIS, traffic information systems. etc. etc. The benefits of which cannot be harvested by Australian aviators without exemptions.
"So what" You say? The problem, Ducky, is that the use of exemptions by the regulator maximises risk to the regulated because, by definition, the making of an exemption is at the pleasure of the regulator. This is because an exemption is not yours by right, subject to natural justice, procedural fairness and the entire set of Weberian bureaucratic procedural rules. Furthermore, the exemption can be revoked just as easily as it is created.
And what does the heightened level of risk mean for the regulated? Why it means jobs, investment and growth Ducky. Do I need to talk about risk premiums and rates of returns? The use of exemptions in Australia means that any aviation investment in what in other jurisdictions would be risk free is fraught with risk in Australia because it has to rely on exemptions to be operated let alone earn a sufficient return. Just ask Dick Smith. Ask the bloke who wanted to operate single pilot light jets.
In my case I have spent some $60,000 and invested hours of my time to try and build something which may fly only by virtue of exemptions. That doesn't worry me too much because I needed the therapy of just building it. If it all gets too hard to jump through more hoops, I will simply chainsaw the structure and sell the motor and avionics or shove the whole thing in a container and give it away to some African missionaries.
However think about the opportunity costs for the entire industry - how many investments are NOT made simply because the potential investor gets one whiff of how CASA is going to regulate him and just walks away? That is why our "storm in a teacup" matters.