Air New Zealand overwhelmingly operate international flights out of Auckland. British Airways operate predominantly out of London. Air France out of Paris. Etc, etc.
Do the residents of Christchurch, Wellington, Manchester, Liverpool, Marseille, Lyon, etc, etc, bitch and moan that their national carrier is trying to screw then over??
It’s the hub and spoke airline model used by countless carriers across the globe, most people understand the economic imperative of it.
As you proudly boast of not having flown Qantas internationally for a decade you may not be aware that you can get from Melbourne or Brisbane to London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong or LA in just as few stops as the lucky residents of Sydney.
I can’t imagine why Qantas offer these services when their guiding principal of business is to crush the Victorian and Queensland economies.