Lead so true, we pay and we pay and we pay.
I cannot for the life of me see any logical reason why we can't have a US style system in this country.
Is there any evidence that the US system results in any more death dives from incapacitation than Australia. Perhaps we are less healthy than them requiring our regulator to morph into defacto health managers, something unfortunately they seem rather incompetent at.
The FAA screens their medical examiners thoroughly, provides training and approves them to assess the medical competency of their airmen, a simple cost effective system.
The system in Australia, one suspects, is driven by "Empire building" within a completely unmanaged, unaccountable bureaucracy with a fee gouging rort to cover the costs.
Serves no safety purpose and potentially could do the opposite.