Lets start looking at reality - rather than quoting verbatim this and that regulations.
Fair enough I guess .....
But I make no comment whatsoever re the crew (I am certain they did their absolute professional best to avoid a disaster, and they succeeded, so well done to them) - what does puzzle me is why the airline concerned chose to potentially upset the Australian regulatory agencies, the same agencies who could presumably hold the aircraft as evidence for a long time, the same agencies who ultimately determine the right of Emirates to fly to Oz, etc.
Not surprisingly, that does puzzle me (as does the lack of media attention) - but as you correctly point out, it is a side issue. The main question is why and how. And we do not yet have any concrete information to help us with that, so we are all guessing at this point.
Meantime, the knowledgeable contributions of professionals like PJ2 help us to understand the possible contributing factors.