Ultimately FBN who cares what a Qantas SO gets paid. They get paid what the contract says they should get paid! Good on them, make hay while the sun shines, don't be jealous of others who have the benefit of good industrial agreements that have been hard won over many many years.
Would that cost model work for Jetstar...... NO, will the Jetstar SO rank get paid anywhere near the same..... NO, will plenty of people be willing to take a Jetstar SO position regardless of the pay ...... YES. I think most if not all Jetstar cadets in the future will enter the airline via two streams, either as a 787 SO or a DASH 8 FO in New Zealand. That is just what I am hearing, either way if you are going to have cadet pilots then both of these options are probably a sensible use of the cadet pilot for a couple of years.