About the cost of maintenance in Australia, I worked for over 2 years at a Asian MRO, they brought in some farmers from China, gave them a six week course, and put them to work as sheet metal workers.
They couldn't read any English, had to have their Leading Hand interpret for them (hid them when FAA did an audit) and payed them $6.00/hour.
How do you compete with that!
Also, they used to get the prisoners over to do the cleaning on the aircraft, no safety equipment supplied, they used to work in their thongs (slippers), so imagine how that makes maintenance cheaper, when you don't have to worry about safety.
So, the way I see it is, it doesn't matter how the maintenance gets done, as long as the package is signed off at the end of the check by an "approved" MRO at the right price, those above will share no responsibility if it all ends up badly.