The 737 has been flying just about every day all day long dropping retardant. People that are all bent out of shape that it isn’t carrying passengers don’t realize that you would have to remove it from the retardant dropping missions in order to transport passengers and it is much easier to use standard commercial transports instead. Right now Oz has the DC-10, the 737, a couple of C-130s, and an RJ that are flying retardant and removing the 737 from that role would have a large impact on the amount of retardant being dropped.
The pax outcry is based on either incomplete information or a lack of understanding of the process to get the 737 approved for passenger transport. When the airplane got its FAA certification, it included a 72 passenger standard interior. The contract that NSW has with the operator doesn’t include cabin personnel so that is something that will have to be sorted before CASA will issue a passenger carrying certificate. It’s only a question of time.