[P7_TOM]

Trawling for something else, I fell over this article (as you do) – HERE - from 'Flying' in the US of A. Why do I get the feeling that the USA will get something done while Australia keeps regressing toward the dark ages of 'desk top' medical mumbo-jumbo.  I wish the 'cousins' the very best in their endeavours.  FWIW:-

Since they were enacted decades ago, the FAA's medical certification rules have been built on bad science, bad policy and bad faith, resulting in a system that asks a lot of pilots but returns little in the way of improved safety of flight. Under intense pressure to update its rules, the FAA last year put out a proposal that would have liberalized the third-class medical certificate but with restrictions so great it would have been meaningless reform for many pilots. The agency then put the regulations on the back burner, so Congress stepped in.