ALAEA Fed Sec, last I checked, the first A in ALAEA stood for 'Australian'. You're not the NZLAEA. Aren't you supposed to be lobbying to keep licensed engineering jobs in Australia, like the name suggests? I hardly think the ALAEA would keep silent if QF decided to ship their 737s to NZ for heavy maintenance. Don't forget that VA sending their 737s to NZ for maintenance was essentially the nail in the coffin of JHAS heavy maintenance at Tullamarine, where I'm sure some ALAEA members used to have jobs.
And what about what the Ken originally said? He wasn't referring to a 73 going to NZ for heavy, he mentioned an A330 going to Manila (ie. Asia) for maintenance. Has the ALAEA decried this "blatant disregard for Australian travellers' safety" in the same way as you would if it were a QF A330? The deathly silence would suggest otherwise.
As 600ft-lb said: VA will never do HM in Australia. How long is the ALAEA going to give VA a free ride before you finally hold them to account for not taking responsibility for the maintenance on their own aircraft? The whole thing smacks of double standards by the ALAEA: one standard for VA/JQ, a different (and ultimately inefficient and unattainable) standard for QF.