I think Qantas need to give Silver FF an advantage over Bronze is terms of releasing seats too.
You can be Bronze and have never flown on Qantas (or partner metal), just have credit card (or other gifted) points. But to be Silver you actually have to fly.
Most of my travel is domestic Syd-Mel, work policy means we travel in Y (discount outbound, flexible return), so its hard to rack up heaps of SCs. However given I actually fly, I feel I should have some advantage over Bronze other than free seat selection - maybe a month lead time on reward seats. Seems wrong I only get same reward access as those who possibly don't fly at all.
In my current membership year I'm on track to complete 28 flights on Qantas metal, plus 4 on partner metal all in Y (mix of discount and flexible for domestic work trips, discount economy for personal travel) and with the loyalty bonus (and a couple of flights being DSC) I will hopefully just qualify for gold 2 weeks before my anniversary. Possibly earlier if there is another DSC offer early next year and i have confirmed need for work flights.
I've not struggled to get domestic or international economy awards as a Silver, although sometimes meant flying partner i.e. i got SYD-SIN-LHR_PER-SYD in Y on points departing 2nd July 2018 (first day of school holidays) but first two legs were BA, last 2 QF.
I held off using point for my SYD-SIN-LHR-JFK-SYD trip next June, there was ample award Y availability on OF on the dates I wanted fly, but it was poor value. So Im hoping once I get to Gold I will be able to get a classic rewards a Business trip in either Europe or RTW.