"Good decisions come from experience, experience comes from making bad decisions"
I think your CFI was wrong. One of the adages I have always believed in for aviation (slightly paraphrased to fit the above quote) is that you learn from the experiences of others because you won't live long enough to experience them all yourself. Besides, it is cheaper that way.
The talk from airline executives about safety being the number 1 priority is male bovine excreta. I recall a talk given in a CASA seminar on safety management systems by the former head of the USAF safety division. He advised never travelling on an airline that advertised safety as being their priority because it means they haven't properly considered the safety issue. If safety was their first priority they would never take an aircraft out of the hangar. What he said was necessary was a very robust risk management approach to flying.
What we are seeing with the Jetstar approach to cadetships, which I understand Jetstar have contracted with the suppliers to be the cheapest form of training that is available, is a complete abandonment of proper risk management principles. Unlike a lot here I believe the cadetship approach can work, it has in many other places of the world with far worse flying conditions and crowded airspace than Australia, as it also did with QANTAS given that the entry point to the airline was a second officer position.
It strikes me that there are two models for low-cost carriers, the original which is Southwest Airlines and its b@rst@rd love-child, Ryanair. It is interesting that Southwest has never to my knowledge taken cadets and still has applicants falling over themselves to get a job there, whereas Ryanair has set the standard for pillaging cadets and now has a queue at the exit door and is still advertising for direct-entry captains.
It is also interesting to note that there is an increasing toll of incidents and accidents with Ryanair. I know Southwest had a hull loss at Midway Chicago but given the intensity of their operations I think their safety record to be better than Ryanair.
Somehow I think the Ryanair model, which I believe Jetstar have adopted is ultimately self-defeating as well as being dangerous. The Senate would do well to take this into their considerations.