You are correct, everyone does need to start somewhere, but does it really have to be in the RHS of a high capacity RPT aircraft? I suspect that accountants simply point to Europe and the apparent success of cadetships direct to RHS HC-RPT. There is a huge difference - a low vis departure to a CAT III autoland is a procedural flight from the FO as support pilots point of view. It is a series of yes/no decisions and calls that can be learned by rote. It is an entirely different proposition to the complex scenario above. That requires active management of the external world beyond the aircraft by the support pilot & requires judgment & experience in order to provide adequate support for the Captain. Not only is the FO there to provide support - he is also the vital cross check on the Captain. Captains make mistakes too.
I gotta take my hat of to you on this one. Anyone who genuinely argues that the Australian RPT environment is more challenging than the European one deserves the Gold Logie for delusion.
Even if you accept the argument that Low Vis ops are not particularly demanding, combine that with Cold Weather Ops (serious cold weather that is) where the rain is just a bit below freezing and you are trying to make a slot time and you are running out of holdover time in an environment where there are more aircraft parked at the terminal than are airborne in all of Australia, all trying to meet their slot times, along with mountains that require 5 figures to describe their height, approaches that go down valleys you would not have imagine even if you had flown in New Guinea, god knows how many languages, ATC talking to pilots in their mother tongue, the list goes on and on.
But hey, we have it challenging here. We have to do approaches into non-controlled airports with anywhere up to 2 or 3 light aircraft in the area, and sometimes it's raining. I can't imagine how those European Captains would cope with such a demanding environment with only a 250 hour cadet with them. Much easier to fly into Salzburg in winter i would think.
The only reason there is a risk here is because we don't have the training system to support low hour Cadets. If this scheme gets any legs, the end product will have had Multi Crew Training and be a far better product (for an airline) than someone who has spent 5 years flying single pilot into Numbulwar.
We need to embrace the future, because the future is low time pilots with Multi Crew Training flying RPT jets. Get on the train or get left behind.