What evidence (apart from self-serving wishful thinking) can you present to support this assertion?

Borghetti is focused on the domestic market. His only competition is Qantas. As far as Velocity goes that's all he has to worry about. His international options are limited. There's no point in comparing Velocity with (say) MileagePlus or any other American programme, because their focus and his doesn't really overlap. Virgin hasn't gone bust (yet) unlike Ansett's Golden Wing or the US airlines (often); his primary duty is to his shareholders. If he really thought things like lifetime status (Qantas) or super-dooper Platinum (Qantas again) were game changers, he'd have done something about it. He's concentrated on things that cost nothing (unlike "free" upgrades) like changing your flight on the day of departure if there's a seat available, or freezing your status because parenthood intervenes.

On the international side he's managed something no-one else has: exchanging points between two FF programmes - Velocity & KrisFlyer

That doesn't mean I think Velocity is a great programme or I wouldn't like more, but unless Qantas start offering more to its mid-tier frequent flyers, Borghetti doesn't have much to worry about