Tuck
Your last post is difficult to follow and twists about from a politics of envy to the politics of entitlement. Geo-politics in the South Chine Sea for another time and deserves expansion beyond an activation of the ANZUS treaty.
You really do take issue with Australian property and in this post you sway toward the envious side of politics inferring a capital gains tax on the family home? Now, most Australian pilots should own their own home by retirement and having been paid tax their working life it's rubbish to slug a CGT or forced sale as part of an access to retirement benefits.
Often, the debate on rising house prices and negative gearing is loudest from those who are not players, and fail to understand the significant benefits to the economy. They also fail to understand the balance sheets of many property investors where there is modest advantage in negative gearing but this policy does provide incentive to provide housing to other important areas of the economy such as tourism or the foreign education market. Foreign investment is a positive and will need to be sustained unless costs of welfare and other high-cost government budget expenditure addressed. As an expat, I don't take issue with somebody coming to Australia, buying a house that pumps huge taxes into government coffers and often living a self-funded happy ever-after. As opposed to taking in illiterate refugees, from parts of the world that require social integration at a cost even this country can't really afford if done properly.
But back to the pilot shortage. Cost of living rises in Australia and rises of living standards in the developing world may put a lid on the attraction of Australia as a place for foreign pilots and the 457 visa. I've noticed this since being abroad. Years ago, there was plenty of interest in Australia as a destination, whereas now, there is more attraction in a basing and setting up for retirement for example, in somewhere like Phuket. The commuting contract market is always interesting, yet to be harnessed, as is eventual basings and talking of the failings of Australian politics, perhaps there should be more incentives or push for foreign carriers to base crew in Australia.