Yeah, flying to PER-SYD costs $270 each way on a Red e-Deal, so a return flight for the $395 annual fee is actually a bit of a bargain. Even when there's a sale for DJ it's usually about $350 return.
Still, there's no doubting that it's an expensive card with high requirement, although I'm not sure if the requirements are slacker if you're a member of one of the professional organisations that offer it.