Maybe that should read " qantaslink have a wholly owned subsidiary that operąte jets " namely Network, and also a contractor that operate jets, namely Cobham.
Just playing the devils advocate here but the general attitude from Qlink pilots ( Eastern, Sunstate ) seems to be that they have done the hard yards and have some sort of right to operate jets. Did you all get told at your interview that you would be flying a jet in X years or did they interview you for a Dash 8 position, just saying.......