Does my daughter need to be a QFF to receive an upgrade award on our points?

Does my daughter need to be a QFF to receive an upgrade award on our points? She currently flies each month from Perth to Sydney return and chooses the cheapest tickets going at the time. She is not a member of any frequent flyer so I wondered if she needed to be a member of QFF so we can upgrade her to J on her next trip. I can't find anything on Qantas website in regards to this. Thanks in advance!

Not sure - however she can sign up to QFF for free through the using Woolworths Everyday Rewards program, so get her onto that then probem solved. 

I believe you do not have to be a member to be upgraded by a QFF member. However, it does not hurt to sign up (as tronixstuff mentions you can do this without cost via Everyday rewards). Even on discounted tickets you earn mileage and of course she will be able to earn when flying Oneworld carriers, signing up won't hurt!

Can one upgrade from the cheapest fare? 

Yes, upgrades are allowed on the cheapest fares for domestic, but not on international from what I have seen.

Correct, on International flights "Sale" fares and "Red e-deals" are not eligible for upgrade awards, as of "super saver" fares you can upgrade.

Thanks all for the replies, she has joined QFF and I have requested her upgrade, it's a matter of wait and see now.

After waiting the upgrade request was declined, even though by looking at the Qantas website there was still business seats available less than 5 hours before departure.

Hi Chrisor thanks for checking in and giving us the update. I'm sorry your daughter did not get upgraded. Not sure how many business seats you saw open on the flight 5 hours out? It could be they were in the inventory but requested around that time for crew travel? Else I would have no explanation, because all high status FF who would have put in an upgrade request would have been cleared I think. Was the business section full when the flight went out? Your daughter should have maybe asked the CSM, nowadays with their Ipads they can excatly check loads, status, ticket class, upgrades etc. Hopefully better luck next time!

I checked Qantas bookings and it flashed up "5 seats or less" for business seats within the 5 hours of departure. Maybe they were held for crew travel, but she had a great flight anyway. I can only guess that as she had only just joined QFF and had no points or status credits is the reason it was declined.