There shouldn't be a reward for the people (not necessarily the technical team - it could be the Australian cabinet office) who set the zone for the wild goose chase that took place pre-Friday. Just an invoice for all the wear and tear, jet fuel, lost sleep, potential risk to crew and needless gigabytes of satellite imaging.
The Australian government is searching the most likely locations. What would you have them do, search the least likely locations?
Of course, if the wreckage if found at a given lat/lon then all the armchair sleuths will say "why didn't you search there first?" but they will only say that after the event. :-(
And yes, the Australian government *ARE* going to get the bill for all the wear and tear, jet fuel, etc...