I am not in a position to give people legal advice - my position is that I am a consumer, and I am looking forward to Tiger serving an airport near me. When everything goes right, it will be a good flight at a nice fare.
I can only follow this issue through the thread on pprune - if Tiger has used planes from other airlines, they are aware of public opinion.
Does Australia/NZ need an EU regulation? If Tiger, and other airlines that follow them operate in a spirit of goodwill, then no. But the EU regulation is there because this situation has happened in Europe, and Ryanair was famous for telling passengers to go away, not our problem. I looked at the Ryanair policy on cancellation of planes, and I saw that it is covered by the EU regulation. This EU regulation actually has its own wikipedia article to describe what happens - you get refreshments and phone calls if the plane is two hours late. You get overnight accommodation if the airline cannot get you home that day. Before you say not another EU regulation, please look at it, because it would have covered the situation at Gold Coast Airport.
Either the airlines know there will some things they have to do as good will gestures or an Australian/NZ regulation may be introduced by a politician who hates airlines, and it may be stronger than the EU regulation.
Some airlines in the EU are quibbling about