it is going to cost way more to the airlines building all the infrastructure on the ground and keeping it operational than would be saved by eliminating the pilot from actually being in the aircraft.
What's wrong with ATC "flying" the aircraft. Infrastructure is partly there and once you take the pilot out of the cockpit, the only decisions left can be accomplished by ATC.
Frankly, when it comes to a pilot shortage, I think you are being optimistic at present regarding the impact in Australia. I suspect the decision to keep SIA out of the Pacific routes and therefore Cathay, Emirates and possibly others like JAL does nothing more than give a green light to Qantas to make drastic moves on its pilots in the short term while cloaked in the usual rhetoric of "need to get ready for competition".