First off, Dick, you are not wrong about everything.
As you rightly point out The Isa was a waste. A hangover from the days when Viscounts and DC-4s plied the BNE/DAR route and didn't have the range.
I also had no problems with the withdrawal of RFFS from the secondaries. If one ran the numbers on a cost/benefit basis, the outlay was not justifiable.
'Operational control' was a crock IMHO. Getting hassled by some fool in 'Operations,' trying to dictate to me, and who couldn't hold down a real job at the coalface, was a waste of my time when sh*ts were trumps. So a tick on that one as well.
As for mandatory reporting, I'll agree to disagree. My previous missive in respect of flight planning and being able to discern who was capable of giving position reports for the purposes of expedition, separation, and facilitating VFR to the maximum extent, sums up my position.
On balance, however, you made some pretty reasonable decisions in respect of the issues that you've raised. There was undoubted waste in the system.
But, but, you just can't seem to help yourself when it comes to language and the selective use of facts:
AsA has never been funded by the taxpayer- always by the industry.
That is a 100% correct statement, but lends the impression (doesn't it?) that AsA, as a 'GBE,' has always run the system; when, in fact, 'user pays' is a relatively contemporary development in respect of our ATM system. And who thought that one up??? Thinking, thinking, thinking....
As LB rightly points out. And thank you LB; couldn't have put it better myself:
It all used to be paid for out of appropriations from consolidated revenue, for the common good. Governments used to think that aviation infrastructure and encouraging aviation were good ideas in a country that wanted to be at the cutting edge of technology and innovation. Pilots used to get AIP for free, because governments decided that spending taxpayer's money to provide AIP for free to the user was a good idea and beneficial to society as a whole.
It's just like public education. Governments have decided that a public education system is a good idea and beneficial to society as a whole, so governments appropriate money out of consolidated revenue to run a public education system. I don't mind that, even though I don't use the public education system (or the public hospital system, or Medicare or the PBS or some highway that was constructed at taxpayer's expense).
For the 'common good' in respect of where my taxes went, and I never had a problem with that as regards the funding of vital infrastructure and services. And then we got 'user pays,' and we are here where we are, where we are.
BTW, and neatly avoided: my original referred to what I regarded as the scandalous waste of
taxpayer dollars (mine) on that recurring hobbyhorse - 11/11, Airspace 2000, Son of Airspace 2000, the G Airspace Trial and, woo-woo, NAS.
I saw it all, Dick. It was public money (probably in the millions) p155ed down the drain for no gain. Why? Because all of those failed initiatives were, IMHO, based on nothing more than opinion and 'I want.' No rigorous analyses in respect of cost/benefit nor risk - just opinion and 'I want.' Such an approach cuts no ice with me.