It's always been pretty bloody tough to crack into the pilot market in Aus / NZ, nothing has changed in that regard.
What HAS changed is that 20 or 30 years ago, you could look forward to making a very good salary and having a nice life, once you'd done the hard yards.
Nowadays, the career progression is a lot less clear cut and a lot less rewarding. The glory days of Qantas are gone and they're not coming back. The only hiring that's happened for years now is in the low cost sector, which means in practice that even if you do make it onto a Boeing or a 'bus, you'll be paying for the rating, after which you'll be getting paid peanuts for a number of years.
I won't go into the whole pros and cons argument with the "cadetships" except to remind you that they exist, they're bloody hard to get, and you're the right age to apply. Even if you're successful though, a mortgage size debt is not something to be considered lightly.
If that doesn't grab you, then you need to do the sums and allow for a few worst case scenarios and decide if you can afford to do it the old-school way or not.