Joyce is right that Qantas mainline will never be short of pilots. But the jet subsidiaries and Alliance is where the growth is being targeted. Without any real improvement in pay and conditions, that growth simply won’t happen.
The size of the A330 replacement order will be telling, now that the A321XLR is running into certification issues with its extra fuel tank.
It may have its range trimmed to 4000nm (or less) in the planned QF configuration, which takes some key cities out of play from the big 5 Aus ports.