Yeah I agree. Joe is laying the groundwork here. Knowing that the public has (had?) a strong emotional attachment to Qantas he's anticipating the backlash from any proposed amendment to the QSA.
When that happens his response will be "it's either that or we will have to put a levy on fuel, cigarettes, alcohol, taxes etc to fund the $1bn required to keep it solvent, over to you, the taxpayer"
I'm guessing the public will fairly quickly lose their emotional attachment and the QSA will be amended early next year.
I'd say the deal has been done, they are just working on the politics and managing expectations now.