At least one of the Links has one individual with his hands on the ‘who goes to mainline’ lever, and due to a forecast huge increase in pilot number, the lever is firmly in the no position. It hasn’t occurred to them or QF that retention requires something attractive about the job, not continual disappointment. If you ever want to work for mainline, except for a tiny few who have made it through via a subsidiary, don’t work for any of the group airlines.
I will point out that unofficially that has always been the policy. This country's industry is so small that basically QF control everyone's career whether you like it or not. In the past I am also aware of smaller operators colluding with QF to stifle Pilots leaving. Up front operators are competing but behind the scenes there is a lot of collusion. Interesting that the competition watchdog only seems to worry about pricing and not the labour market.