Gentlemen, please stop demonstrating your lack of knowledge of economics. The verdict that free trade was better than protectionism was passed at least twenty years ago. Thets what the world trade organisation talks each year are about - opening up markets.
What do you think you would be paying for telephone calls if Optus and Vodaphone were not at Telstra's throat?
What do you think you would be paying for cars without the flood of cheap imports?
Industry protection is called "rent seeking behaviour" it appears to protect your jobs but it actually protects inefficient managers while penalising the rest of the economy that is internationally competitive.
You want examples - look no further than the car industry, computers and telecommunications.
Furthermore, your international competitors in aviation are doing just that - competing with each other. They get better at what they do day by day through competition. So what does QF do? Well if its not competing, but sitting on its fat @ss, then it isn't improving at the same rate as its competitors is it?
What that means is that it is not "protecting pilots jobs" at all! When the government does finally remove your industry protection, the adjustment is going to be all the more painful because the "gap" between your performance and your competitors is widening all the time.
Please don't shoot the messenger, its just the economic facts of life these days and aviation is no exception. It's nothing personal.
Those of you who wish to argue this point are like the flat earth society. All around the world everyone is trying to open markets and advance the cause of free trade.