Think its a matter of public record that over years QF has had discussions with SQ, MH, CX about things from mergers to codeshares etc but never been able to come to an arrangement
This is largely because QF deluded themselves into believing they were more important than they are. The Asian carriers were bemused by QF's arrogance and simply increased their frequencies into Australian capital cities thus devaluing most of what QF could bring to the table.
It seems QF have gone completely the other way with EK and become amazingly submissive. If, as is rumoured, part of the deal was QF can never operate into Europe via Asia then QF have given up a huge market for nothing in return. Their submissiveness has not been rewarded by EK though who are happily increasing capacity into Australia with much of the growth being at the expense of QF rather than the Asian carriers.