What was advertised in the SMH back in 2002 was "Expressions of Interest" in Permanent, Fixed Term and Casual positions with Qantas in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. No mention of LH or SH, I also believe the application on staffcv also has a section where you indicate the type of work you would do and base preference.
It is sad that permanent positions cannot be made available to internals in this instance, however if limited permanent positions are available such as with short haul recently they should go to the divisions that have pre-existing agreements with Qantas such as the divisional transfer agreement and regional progression. If after that has been actioned there are no permanent positions left, sorry but that is the situation as it stands at present, QF have an obligation to honour certain agreements with other cabin crew departments such as the above. They are under no obligation to any other department that doesnt have an agreement with them.
This should come as NO surpise to anyone it was in July last year that Mr Dixon made his speech about the type of employment being offered in the future and percentage ratios for casuals, contract and permanent. There should be no shocks here, all this has been debated before in this forum.
Lets hope things change and put faith in the LH crew and their union.