This is a massive flex by Qantas Loyalty - as the person in this article points out:
View attachment 473242
Earning Qantas SC switches the Pavlovian response from collecting Qantas Frequent Flyer Points to earning Qantas Status on the ground. As others have said - without much behaviour change, many will earn between 30-80 SC by doing what they already do in the QFF ecosystem already, so will be attractive to people who might struggle to obtain a desired Tier eg: people who don't fly enough for say Silver or say don't quite get to Gold by flying alone.
Sticking it to the RBA and proposed interchange caps is also part of the story, along with some feel-good PR after a few PR missteps in the recent and further past hangover from the Joyce era.
All the while, their competitor, Bain/Virgin Australia/Velocity, is lighting exploding cigars in their own face by increasing the requirement of spend to maintain status on an inferior product with fewer lounges and fewer international partners. Qantas loyalty must be laughing their cough off at the moment......