QF has been in dicussions with EK and apparently QR aswell. I think QR will be better as they have a huge network but are still in the early stages of developing an Australian network and are infact a big threat going forward as they have a significantly better network than Etihad and look how strong EY is in Australia. If QF and EK have an agreement then how could QF fly to Dubai when EK have an already developed network covering all the connecting banks from DXB.
I still see the value in it, QF clearly can not sustain their international network as tag ons are not financially worthwhile and they have a high cost base. Flying to Heathrow and outsourcing the rest makes sense.
As for the effect on OW then I doubt they would be happy, but what could they do? BA would probably end Australia flights (they have said they only fly there to keep their JSA with QF intact as it is a requirement of the agreement) and instead codeshare with CX and MH . They may still codeshare with QF from DXB and I assume QF will still fly to SIN but I highly doubt you will see a BA code on an EK flight. Everything else would be status quo I imagine.