AIrbornesoon:
What makes QFs pilots uniquely entitled to job security in an economy where no other worker has that? Now before you go on about saving lives and your $100k investment in self education let me enlighten you about working conditions or non-aviation Australia.
The simple answer is risk and return. There is only one employer of B747 and A380 pilots in Australia as far as I know, and if you don't work for them you don't work at all. When you consider that there is at least a Ten year apprenticeship to get to the controls, you are making a very serious investment of your working life, perhaps a quarter of it, in support of your goal.
If you are a simple plumber or electrician, you can choose from thousands of jobs with multiple employers, not so the highly specialised employee.
From a management perspective Qantas is being stupid. They invest considerable sums in the recruitment, selection, training and maintenance of very skilled pilots - then they turn a round, tell them there is no job security; thereby inviting them to consider taking their skills to an employer offering better career prospects.
This, as well as their calculated offensiveness towards their engineering workforce, is going to bite Qantas very, very hard in future. Loyalty is a Two way street as any manager who has seen a prized employee walk out the door will tell you.
From your point of view soontobeairborne, I would stick with flying C172's. There are always plenty of low skilled jobs.