The conditions that mainline long haul enjoy are 'unique'.
You should not have the situation where an A330/747 long haul award FO enjoys a higher salary than a 737/767 Captain.
Equally, you should not have a scenario where A380/330/747 SOs earn more than 737 or 767 FOs.
Is an SO who flies 3-4 trips a month an enjoys 180k really sustainable? Especially when Jetstar, Tiger and Virgin have their Captains on a base salary around this figure?
If Qantas aircraft were not so expensive to crew, and that goes from the Pilot, down to the third generation Qantas bag chucker, to the A scale cabin manager on 130k, they would probably already have the 777.
I'm all for appropriate remuneration for technical skill and training, but paying the rates Qantas do for unskilled labour, along with the working conditions they enjoy is madness when compared to the competition.
Whilst it sucks for those that have been killing the pig for years and want to sustain it, it's akin to sticking your fingers in holes in a damn wall to stem the inevitable.
Domestically Qantas is pretty shielded and the domestic agreement is not so different from Jetstar if both Pilots fly hour for hour. It's pretty competitive and the Pilots seem to be generally happy with their lot (apart from the lack of progression).
Internationally, Qantas has a lot of pain to go through before/if it grows again.