Hello Qantas Gurus

I am likely to be moving my family from Canada to Australia in 2008 or 9.

As a result, my travel will now go from Air Canada to Qantas. I should be doing one to three trans Pac flights a year in Business Class plus numerous domestic flights

I have been an Aeroplan Elite for five plus years and have earned over 2 million FFPs.

Will Qantas recognize my status (i.e. Gold) if I were to contact them with my information and join their FF program?

What Credit Card is the best for earning points for QF based in Australia?

Thanks in advance

No comp from QF. The only way you get status with QF is to earn it. AA ffp would as likley be a better choice anyway.

OW programmes in general don't status match except in very exceptional circumstances.

If you have failed to hit the required bar when attempting to renew status, QF is sometimes generous and will comp you another year. That said, it will never give out status initially without the customer doing the hard work first.

The closest to a status match you will find within OneWorld will be an AA platinum challenge. A search on the AA forum (and QF!) will reveal all that you need to know.

Well, welcome to the OneWorld side of the flying world. QF will not comp your status but getting status with QF when traveling premium cabin is not that hard.
You should chose carefully which FF program you would like to join. It usually comes down to a AA vs QF discussion and there are many threads in the OW forum about that.
Summary: AA has a much better earn/burn ration and much lower fees than QF. QF however offers you the advantage of greater award availability for their own status people, much better lounge access (especially as a QF WP) and the other advantages you get when belonging to the FFP of the airline you actually fly with.

Regarding credit card: Many banks have credit cards which give you QF points. Or American Express which has a decent rewards program which includes points transfer to QF.

If you have no status but are flying trans Pacific in Buisness, you will get most of the high status benefits except for the points multiplier and anytime WP access (domestic). You will earn high status with what you describe in a year so you'll only be a "nothing" for a short time.

And AMEX *may* recognise and transfer MR points across...

It should be added that if you are generally flying Economy or Premium Economy (e.g. with BA or JL) is almost always better crediting to AA. QF is probably one of the least generous programmes when flying down the back or almost back.