There has to be decent revenue on shorter links, and I'm all for Rex giving QF a bit of a squeeze. I'm flying to Hervey Bay in a few weeks. QF quotes $247 to go SYD/BNE/HVB. The SYD/BNE sector is selling at $140 right now, so... another $150 to go BNE/HVB? Sure. And then it's $247 to return HVB/SYD a few days later, when the stand-alone BNE/SYD sector is selling for $200, so incremental HVB/BNE is $47 that day. And I checked a non-QF booking site, and was offered $207 for the full one-way on the same planes.
I'm sort of surprised at the pricing. QFLink seems to be the only carrier doing BNE/HVB/BNE, so they could conceivably charge a motza. In fact I think the incremental fare is pretty reasonable considering the alternative is a 3.5 hour drive in a rental car. So what's the special sauce? Does Fraser Coast have a seriously active polly at work?