Well, I don't really perceive the Australians to be militant (except maybe with a bowl of peanuts in HKG <g>). However, they themselves have claimed here and elsewhere to be "blacklisted" by some employers due to historical reasons. There was a lengthy thread here on the EK hiring band a few years ago, it seems to be lost to one of the server upgrades.
I agree that 1989 was a long time ago but some alumni still claim to be blacklisted at home fairly recently:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...threadid=20698
Ironically, many of the "blacklisted" former AFAP members at Cathay were attempting to blacklist CX applicants in the wake of the 49'er sackings.
As I said in the earlier post, there is precedent in the expat world for discrimination on the basis of nationality in employment practices, maybe SQ closing an Australian base was the source of the original rumor.