There is certainly no shortage of suitable applicants for QF and JQ positions to fill the numbers required many times over.
As for a pilot shortage more generally...experienced, type-specific Captains in Asia and the ME perhaps...but not in Australia.
I posted the following under the Virgin Recruitment Thread but it belongs here as well:
There are (better contracts), but generally not in places considered by many Australians as desirable to live long-term, or commuting to work under contracts that do not have the backstop of employee-challengeable industrial relations laws championed by unions and arbitrated by a law-abiding umpire. So there is significant career risk in leaving for these jurisdictions...especially when you are young(ish) and have more than 5 years left before retirement.
Mostly these 'better and better' contracts are in the Middle East or Asia or working under the terms of a potentially rubbery contract. Often they are in an environment where you are tolerated and made to feel like a foreigner. Most pilots that I know place significant importance on having a professionally enjoyable atmosphere on the flight deck...especially on long haul.
These are major reasons why the ranks of Australian carriers have not been decimated by the growth in jet jobs in the Middle East and Asia.
I have friends and know of many pilots in these regions who desperately want to come home but feel trapped by the money they are earning and the fact that even if they are lucky enough to be successful then that position will be entry-level and of course at the bottom of the seniority list.
Most Australian pilots still place a VERY high value on living and working at home, under Australian IR laws with transparent seniority lists and the participation of unions in the workplace.
Now, if suddenly these jobs and commuting contracts were available with Western European or North American carriers? Well then I think the trickle of pilots leaving our shores could turn into a flood and our terms and conditions here would likely be driven up.
Until then, the 'pilot shortage' we often hear about doesn't apply so much to such a sought after location as Australia.
PG