Kelpie, this is a classic attempt at labour arbitrage, with a twist. Normally this would involve offshoring the work to another country where that same skills exist, but at lower cost. So, here's the twist, excess pilots don't exist in Asia! So, what they are doing is offshoring the job to a cheaper place of doing business, and in effect forcing the skill to go offshore, to work back in the host country (Australia) - offshore/inshore. Look very carefully at the NZ cadet base, ticks all the box for this game plan. All of this is simply an end-run around Australian migration/labour/superannuation/tax law.
The central question for the Federal government, is, if Qantas succeed, how many other companies will do the same? What would the anticipated tax revenue hit be. WA FIFO mining would be a prime candidate for this style of operation (Karratha upgraded to handle a B767, Asia anyone). Imagine if all those high paying mining jobs were offshored/inshored. The miners would ask for the same "cash in hand", but without the Federal government receiving the tax.