As a non-Australian, the piece I find incredible is that Australians accept these arrival caps on citizens. I don't think our government would legally be able to keep citizens out. Quarantine yes but not caps. 

Indeed, mainland carriers, in my limited experience, are worse but that is not the point. The comparison I make is between CX today and CX a decade ago. Apart from the hard product (I have flown Y, J and F in recent years) the difference is in the cabin service. CX used to be in the same category...