That the company wants crews to take less money AND introduce a B scale complicates things too. The industrial regulatory situation in Australia is skewed against unions, so the pilots have to take every opportunity to secure pay and conditions.
Many of us watched this kind of thinking & hiring unfold through the eighties & nineties. Many potential young pilots took a look and decided, "US$16,000/year for an F/O job?", and went elsewhere for careers and profession.
The MBAs will do what they will regardless of historical results, but now is not the time for airlines to restart planning for pilots-on-the-cheap.