Keg- If its about the money then QF is the place to be as you will get more money as a 744 F/O than you will as a Jetstar Captain. All QF pilot's at the time of the MOU were eligible to go to Jetstar and all who did so are now Captains. I'm certain that Jetstar would have taken as many QF pilots as it could have because of their experience, but were not permitted to take LOA by mainline HR, as you yourself said. That would seem to have limited some of Jetstar's options for obtaining experienced crew.
In this modern world of aviation politics there is idealism or pragmatism and for my own reasons I chose pragmatism to attain the goal of a LHS. Idealism would have seen me retiring as a permanent F/O.