Just looking myself...
Well - if you book 2 months in advance (for FEB), the EK rates are 8807AUD. I found that rate for direct flights as well as flight with 1 stop.
Ok, it's still more expensive than the Singapor Airlines tickets, but nowhere close to the price you have.
Of course - if you want to fly next week, or maybe even next month, when all the "cheaper" tickets on EK are allready sold you can easily get the price up to the level you mentioned... But then again - you might just be lucky with Singapor that day... maybe a day before or after, the prices for the airlines might be reversed...
It's the same everywhere... a few cheap tickets to look good, a few "normal" priced ones... and then the "standard price" - high as anything...
It always pays of checking - often in Europe you fly cheaper last minute with a main carrier then some of the low cost ones...
