This is NOT a MEL- PER- JNB service- or SYD or BNE.
QF9 is MEL- PER-LHR. If you are ex MEL it would have been seamless at T1 in PER. For PER originators T1 would have been expected, and usual. That other joiners would have had to transfer Terminals, like they do in every other airport in Australia (and a lot of other places), does not make this unique. But QF could not have avoided DXB without convincing east coast patrons that sitting in an aircraft for 5hrs BEFORE you even leave the country was A GOOD THING.
If QF offered a flight to JNB tomorrow from T1, and it was cheaper than SAA, it would be patronised by people from WA and the east coast (who would have had to change terminals anyway and expected nothing else) because, as is lamented on many, many threads here, people buy on price (see Bloggs #224). The facilities at T1 would not sway them if it was cheaper. QF are either planning to be not much, if at all, cheaper ( note: plan is to operate seasonally so can charge highest fares), or this is part of a longer end game. I reckon the latter is why PA is nervous.
Joyce's business case is how do I get myself out of the cluster f#%k decision I made to partner with EK? It's all about the rows at the front. QF couldn't give a rats about the great unwashed down the back. Ask internally about how much QF pay EK for lounge access in DXB.