<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I was under the impression that CXs BNE-CNS-HKG was operated by the "regional" Buisness Class layout (ie: non NBC). This then makes it an easy decision to fly SYD or MEL to HKG (and not BNE).</font>
If CX are operating the route with "new" regional business class (as opposed to long-haul NBC) I would give it a very wide berth. I had a flight a couple of weeks ago HKG-KHI on a new regional congfig A330 and it was without doubt one of the worst business class seats I've experienced in a long time. The recline seemed quite a bit less than the old seats, the leg rest wasn't worth the trouble and overall the seat was quite hard (not great when your flight is 8 hours +). Even the crew thought the seats were pretty terrible. This seems to be one of the few mistakes CX has made over the years in upgrading their cabins.