The crux of this whole debate is the quality of the training, whether it is a 200 hour puppy farm graduate or a 2 to 3,000 hour former GA driver.
and his FO will have no background, no frame of reference to question that decision
Playing devil's advocate here but won't a new FO, whatever their background, have the same problem? It is an awfully big jump from GA to a B737 or A320 with a totally new set of parameters to deal with and any new start is going to be struggling for a time.
I have read comments on here from a number of pilots who have had low time FOs' trained by the European schools and most have stated that they were not a problem; they knew their systems and could handle the aircraft to the point there was little or no difference between them and FOs' who had come through the traditional route to the right hand seat.
I also appreciate that these people were talking about normal operations but I suggest that any new FO is going to be in the same boat when it comes to an emergency because their training for that is going to be at the same level whatever their background.
As a personal aside I am currently working in an uncertified B737 simulator (no it is not Microsoft) that reasonably accurately represents the handling of a 737-800. It is very noticeable that clients who have a GA background (mostly PPL holders) do worse in handling it than people who with no aviation training. In nearly every case it is the inertia factor that they struggle with and that is with me taking care of the throttles and speed control.
The ATSB has noted in two incident reports that the quality of training by third party organisations was an issue but in both cases their criticism was directed at the airline as they had both gone with the cheapest training expense and had not done any post-training for their specific procedures.
I agree that aviation safety in Australia is being threatened but I don't agree that it is because of cadet schemes, rather it is because the airlines are not emphasising the quality of training that is required.