At least the connections between domestic and international would be worthy of the premium project sunrise flights are demanding, unlike at Sydney airport 

Western Sydney Airport CEO is on the record stating the airport will be Sydney's primary airport within 15 years. Considering the airport in western Sydney is brand new, good transport options, no curfew, and with plenty of room for future growth I wonder if Qantas have discussed moving their Syd...

I would be curious to know if the lack of plans for qantas to refurbish their Melbourne international business class lounge has anything to do with likely future plans for a full redevelopment of Melbourne T2 

Agreed. This was definitely done when the VA MAX order was rejigged in December last year (peak covid). There is no way VA has left it up to now to secure planes for its resumption for long distance international flying - with increased demand with international green zones 

This is definitely a far greater outcome than boeing re-engineering the 757 or 767. I can see this option coming to fruition and boeing wanted to consolidate the same production line to build a smaller capacity/less range version of this airliner to take over the 737 max program.