Last week I was on a domestic VA flight out of BNE going north and since it was the last flight of the night they held the plane for pax connecting from MEL and SYD both of which were running late.

If you misconnect they should protect you on the next available service. However if you really gotta be somewhere at a specific time then the sage would choose a more comfy cxn. If you don't care, are just after the fare and have time to spare, go for the 35 min.