Qantas does have the four segment rule, though I don't know how rigorously it's enforced. I know it's not for silver since I qualified from a couple of misposted BA flights that I was too lazy to ask for back.

If he wants to go with TAB, then let him go with TAB. No doubt that if he is doing a slew of EI flights a year that he gets a benefit from having status that many of you realize in the other programs.

However, you still have been misinformed about the GlobEx and OWE. You do indeed have to go in one generally continuous direction. Your routing is an elaborate round trip, not a round the world. You can do your routing without ever having to touch a longhaul BA or QF jet. Just route on Cathay between North America and Australia and then again between Australia and Europe. So your routing would be GIB-LON-HKG-SYD-MEL-PER-HKG-LAX-LAS-ORD-LAX-DUB-LON-GIB

You need to transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow for the flight to Hong Kong. That'll cost you probably 25 euro based off the last time I went.