For the record, Cobham 717 mins are 2000TT with 500 multi PIC.
Sounds like the HR department might want to have a look at their calender and figure out it's not 1998 anymore.
Do you really think the HR clerks make these numbers up without instruction from the Head of Flight Ops? Their OM probably has something to say about it as would QF since it is their trainset. Do you think that it is possible that people with less than that sort of experience struggle with the B717?
You will find that Aussies from the sandpit and Asia are applying to get back home….that’s not even counting on the foreigners willing to move to oz.
The impression I get is that the number of the former is small and of the latter very small. There is no huge pool of foreign labour ready to bang on the door of Australian aviation to be let in.