It could be that QF have some justification for not following the rules: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25650228-post382.html. If the agreement is that the operating carrier of your next flight should pay for your use of the lounge, that carrier is AA, and AA is failing to pay then QF does have some reason to be unhappy. Whether they should be taking it out on the passenger is another matter.

It suggests that AA did not think through having TBIT departures before they had an air side link from T4. However when they have that link passengers with the "right" to access the Oneworld lounge might well prefer to use it so the problem will not go away.