Australian cities are not what Australia is about. A city is a city is a city. To see a little of Australia get out of the cities. Go to FNQ (far north Queensland), Darwin or the red centre. There a lot of threads on trips to Au.
Perth, Western Australia is ~4hr flight from the east coast. Paying cash air fares can be expensive. Then you need to go somewhere from Perth to see something.
Brisbane is less than inspiring. But it has an airport from where you fly to interesting places.
There a lot of threads on trips to Au in this sub forum.
And some good TR's on Au, including but not limited to:-
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...australia.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...own-under.html
For getting to Australia with AA freq flyer miles take the flights that have availability. You may/will not have a choice. Premium cabin availability is very very limited. Nor you say what time of year or how many weeks from now you want to go.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...er-thread.html (click open the wiki)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
AA only fly to/from LAX SYD while QF flys LAX SFO DFW JFK HNL to/from BNE SYD MEL (but not from all airports to all airports)
Au QF domestic business is about AA domestic first class or a little better. Depends on the aircraft. Economy cash flights can be not that expensive if booked some weeks out. But price does vary a lot. 20K AA miles for the ~65min flight SYD-MEL would be a poor use of AA ff miles. Be aware carry on allowed for Au domestic/international is less than common practise in USA.
Airlines that fly in Australia domestically. Excludes some small operators
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Airnorth TL Regional airline in northern central Australia
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Alliance Airlines QQ Regional airline. Tailored aircraft charters for the resource industry.
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Jetstar JQ (a low cost carrier with low-medium-high priced fares owned by QF)
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Regional Express Airways (REX) ZL Regional airline
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Tiger Airways TT (a low cost carrier with low fares part owned by Virgin Australia)
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Qantas QF [OneWorld Alliance]
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Virgin Australia VA (Delta partner)