Don’t see a problem with a love-fest, so long as we don’t lose perspective. It’s always nice to dream
A glint of the perspective is that there are few of these in Australia making them somewhat unobtainium. Where’s the fun in bragging rights when you can’t share the love?
Regardless of their magical qualities, mass-produced SCTs are just plain easier to get hold of, in Australia or otherwise, and more gentle on the wallet.
Then there’s the paradigm of resolution in lucky imaging. Getting a good enough SCT just isn’t that hard. I can’t imagine SE QLD is that unique, but I know a number of folk with good scopes - all of which I’ve looked through. My own scopes I don’t regard as particularly special, but the results speak for themselves.
Planetary imaging comes down as much to robust technique as anything, other than the seeing of course. A common weapon of choice is a C14...not outrageously expensive, relatively lightweight, a lot of light grasp and easy to reach the realm of high resolution planetary imaging with a simple 2x Barlow.
When we start talking deep sky imaging, Maks are just too slow. SCTs too. Imagers don’t chose to image at f/10. This is what makes larger newts, with all their flaws, more appealing as it’s not hard to get a seeing-limited focal length in the region of f/4-5. Advances in sensor technology open up reasonable exposure times to slower scopes, but faster f-ratio will always have the upper hand.
Theoretical superiority is one thing, but practical accomplishments are another...