"is casual / contract hiring for QF Australia going to be a permanent thing?"
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If the howard government remains in power I would imagine so.
There are only two ways to get a job as a flight attendant for Qantas.
One is as a casual employee for the labour hire company MAM.
The other is to leave Australia and apply in Thailand, New Zealand or the UK.
In Australia now the only value based on the life of a human being is how cheaply you will work [unless you are from the "big end of town" then the reverse applies].