Originally Posted by
Dave Noble
The brightest Australians might well take advantage of the higher ex-AU earning rates and then redeem from locations outside Australia at the normal rates
Agreed

As I mentioned earlier a lot of loopholes.
I was looking at fares yesterday and could get QF to price MEL-DXB return for about 7k in First (on EK metal) which was on special. Not a bad value I must say. Over to EK and I was quoted at least 30% more, same flights.