I think the criticism is a bit harsh, SIN is a hub for onward connections, not a final destination for most travelers. It's a bit hard to match frequency with an airline that can carry pax from AUS to the world with a consistent product compared with an end of line carrier that flies to the hub and has poor connections with substandard LCC's or other 'alliance' partners to connect with.
It's a losing proposition for Qantas. Only government intervention regarding the seemingly unlimited capacity dumping would change that and it's not something likely to occur in the next 3 years of Abbot and co.
The only other thing that would help Qantas is hub busting aircraft that could do SYD-LHR direct at an economically feasible rate.