I won't speak to the value (or lack thereof) of using Airpoints for *A redemptions, but in terms of underlying availability in business to *A partners, your best bets are:

Asiana (decent award space depending on time of year) to ICN
Air China (better availability than OZ; they fly to both PVG and PEK and it seems their new 773s are flying the SYD-PEK route)
Thai (I would call their F availability spectacular! And their onward availability to Europe is about as good as it gets)
NZ (pretty good availability to PVG/NRT via AKL, though you have the recliner seats and the extra leg to pay for)

From ICN, PEK, PVG, BKK, NRT you have an array of opportunities on LH, LX and OS to continental European hubs and on the home countries' airlines to LHR.

Also, forget about a partner award on NZ-SFO/LAX sectors in business. NZ just doesn't release any award space to partners on these routes (at least in the last 12-18 months I've been looking). Best bet there is AKL-YVR where some space can be found (not nearly as good as AKL-NRT/PVG) but at least it is guaranteed flat bed.

As for tools, the United award search engine is great (with a couple of notable issues with SQ and LH availability). ANA tool is useful too, just a little more cumbersome. Agree on the comment that the paid tools (KVS/Expert flyer) are very useful for planning these trips. US$99 a year - in particular if making multiple redemptions - is a small price to pay.