Anyone remember why it was withdrawn and replaced with the paper licence?
CLX,
Because the then "new" DAS thought it looked too much like an FAA licence, and not a "proper" license, like the UK one.
The one with which he was first issued as a graduate of the BOAC/BEA college at Hamble (he was a pom), so we got license that was a virtual duplicate of the UK CAA license, to the degree that I could put it in my old UK CAA CPL licence cover.
Needless to say, the "excuse" was that the credit card licence did not "comply with ICAO", in reality the UK interpretation of ICAO, which meant that, in his/their dopey opinion, about 600,000+ US licence holder did not have a valid ICAO licence.
Strange, but the rest of the world didn't have a problem with the FAA licence, including FAA licence holders flying CAA/CASA unmolested into/out of/within Australia.
Hard to believe, but the USA has completely ignored the Australian "legal opinion".
My current FAA licence is even more like a credit card than the old Australian version --- and has never been questioned when I have been flying a N- aircraft in, say, EASAland.
My old Australian credit card licence was never questioned anywhere, including several ramp checks on VH- aircraft in USA.
Just another example of the anal fixation with the irrelevant/ inconsequential in the Aviation Galapagos that is Australia, as slabs of the aviation community disappear down the gurgler.
Tootle pip!!