In my view it is currently a complete waste of your FF miles to use the for a trip to Australia because you can BUY a ticket from Air New Xealand for as low as $609 + $158 for taxes, etc.

See

http://www.airnewzealand.com/default.htm

This is a limited time offer but it has been around in slightly different forms for at least the past six months.

I am sure that Qantas offers similar fares.