What is truly being offered as an enticement to work for Cx? Shiny jets is it? Being the premium Airline they once were is a good enough draw card so management says. What is guaranteed? No roster requests. Therefore no family and friends time = no lifestyle. From observation, whatever is requested is never ever received. To-the-point, if you ask for days off at the beginning of the month to attend a birthday function, you get those days off at the end of the month, therefore no longer able to attend the function. The rosters are built so tightly roster swaps are impossible. There's a FB group for roster swaps and 10 seconds after roster publication the group lights up with roster swap requests. The only way to build your lifestyle is sick days. If you take too many of these an invitation is sent for a meeting.
If lifestyle is not a concern and you never want to be with those people important in your life on special occasions then join Cathay,
The salary on offer living in HK is possibly sufficient for a single person with other income avenues or with no entertainment expenses. No future planning. Not sufficient for a family. Housing allowance is not even close to giving you a comfortable apartment without putting your hand in your pocket.
Personally, the best result for the Australian leg is no one shows up.