You definitely missed the part where Boeing offered a subsidy. We don't know the details of it but I am sure Boeing is doing something really costly to rival Airbus.
It is a temporary and immediate solution that will in many ways be subsidized. Qantas would be naive to not give it a look. I am sure Boeing will do almost anything to keep Qantas from going to Airbus.
I think you need to the blame falls on the government for removing the funding that required them to switch to a system that did not provide direct oversight of the certification process.
