I feel more stupid now that I have read this.
Cadets get pressured pretty hard, and when QF/Training Mob decide to make an example of someone (unfounded or not), they'll do what they can to make them look bad. I know of it happening at one point last year...
as for the Seniority, these are the hand-picked future core staff of Qantas. They go through rigorous training, selection, excessive pressure loading and more bs than you can imagine. For putting up with all the s&%^ they deserve the seniority number.
Go on with your tough GA s***. I work in GA; it is not going to get another generation of pilots. Why go and work for no money, with three supporting jobs and ****house conditions in the bush (away from all your family and friends) when you can do two or three year at uni, earn 5 times as much as most similar aged GA Pilots, and therefore have spare cash to spend on flying for fun? Seriously, why? If GEN Y do boycott the industry like I predict, who can blame them? This is where the cadet programmes come in. Sure they cost much more than your run of the mill flying school, and don't put out a pilot of any better quality (despite what they preach), but the way it was with the CIPP and seniority has the only aviation appeal to Gen Y. If this stays as it is, in 10 years the pilot shortage will be way worse than what it was a few months ago.