What gives the right for Asian and Middle East carriers to profit from people flying from (eg) Australia to UK or Australia to NZ
Because they give passengers what they have been asking for, new aircraft, frequent schedules and some fantastic innovation in product development. Our main carrier is still flying antique 747s built in the early 90's! Qantas has not updated their A380s since incepted, have you seen the Etihad A380?
As Virgin has very limited scope Internationally, leaving one main carrier being Qantas, the simple reason is they have an absolute rubbish network and offering. Have a look at national carriers networks out of Adelaide and Perth, in fact don't bother because there is none.
A lot of reasons why Australians are flying the elites is due to poor management from current and previous executives of Qantas and Virgin Australia.
I would argue all these carriers landing on our shores are providing many more jobs locals compared to what Qantas and Virgin would ever offer.