Muff: " what does this mean for the qf perth base as these are both qf 737 flights...?? (stand to be corrected)"
It means the QF PER base won't be flying those services. They are infrequent anyway (two or three per week). These services have always been on the chopping board for the B737 (as was DRW-DPS)
Meanwhile the WA domestic flying (which is high yield mining business, and consists of customers who will not fly LCCs...) continues to expand exponentially and they need all the B737NGs they can get. No competition from LCCs, only Skywest is the threat. Five new QF 737-800s arrived in the last couple of months to expand the market. New WA mining destinations and increased services to existing destinations about to kick off (at the expense of QFLink). That is what the QF PER base will be doing - and quite profitably, I expect.