I believe the legacy carrier benchmark in the US is currently at US$ 450,000+ extras. (~AUD675K) Australia is a higher cost country. The US airline pilot unions are militant and their members enjoy the benefits of that. Contrast that to the local dynamics and you get the local crap pay.
As to what is fair: Whatever the market will bear given the industrial laws and the backbone of the union membership.
I get something close to $360/hr. That’s after at least three years of pay freezes in my career and increases below inflation. Absent those things my rate of pay would be over $400/hr.
I think $450k is a reasonable number. But I wonder why I should accept less than our colleagues overseas when our fares are at least as high and the CEO is the highest paid airline exec in the world? For running down an airline that was ranked 18in the world by fleet size to 38th in ten years.
As far as the LCCs go…who else takes lower pay for the same work to offset the employer's revenue model? The difference between my pay and a JQ captain's pay is what? 50c per seat per hour?
And by the way…I think a Dash 8 skipper should get at least $200K based on seats and speed.