In all the to-ing and fro-ing here I think you guys have missed one important point, Qantas will give the 717s to whoever they please. As far as I am aware it is not up to Impulse who flies what, although reading some of the posts you would'nt know it.
It is amazing how arrogant some of the Impulse pilots have gotten in such a short time, keep it up and you'll qualify as a 400 LHP.
You may learn, over time, that QF don't give a s**t about you or any of the others ( eg. Southern ) the only thing that matters is the bottom line, and at the moment you are lucky enough to be deemed healthy toward that bottom line. ( so to, by the way, are NJS )