@Leadsled, I do not disagree with what you say.
However I would ask that you do not insult the 350,000 people or so that live in the city of Canberra and region. CASA or any other agency that happens to have staff here does not necessarily reflect our community - our home. I would point out that Dick lives (occasionally) in the Canberra region too.
Friggin' over that, the press do it every day. The @rseholes that are your elected representatives don't live here (or work here much) either.
Back on topic. Yes I do think the charter of CASA would be better if it also included the promotion of aviation. Ditto to a simplification of legislation and of statutory requirements
However I think that just changing that is a simplification of the issue, after all the yanks say their GA industry is in dire straights too! As do the Euro's! I think there are multiple economic factors that have just as great a bearing on GA viability as a business or hobby. I personally am a believer that market size has a bearing on unit cost - that is the greater the market the lower the unit cost. For example; if there are more kids who want to fly (for whatever reason), it drives demand for aircraft, instructors, LAMES, aerodromes etc.. The unit supply cost for each of these drops per unit of demand - therefore it becomes accessible to more people - it becomes a self sustaining and growing industry.
With weight of numbers also comes political and economic clout. At the moment the general population view is that pilots are either well off (little do most know what the average GA pilot earns, and has paid to get there), or that we are all a bunch of rich b@stards with our private planes (I usually explain that boating and aviation have similar private costs and extremes)...
So my answer is that this is not a one dimensional problem, and to attack it as such (and Dick - you are like my all time hero - I know you are smarter than that) is futile. I also think that it is to our detriment to rely on, or even expect the Government of the day to do anything. The change starts with each of us, if we take personal responsibility for promoting aviation as an industry and past time the rest will come.
My 2c...