MEC407--
Thanks for the news and links!
The cab designs in the artwork are similar to those used on most recent locomotive classes in Oz, both EMD based and GE based. (UGL-- United Group Limited-- is the corporate successor of long-time Australian GE licensee Goninan. Previous UGL/GE locomotives, with FDL-12 engines, for 3'6" gauge include the P-class for Western Australia and the 2800 class for Queensland.)
British railways, though standard gauge, have very small loading gauges and light axle-weight limits, so a British design is likely to be an obvious starting point if you want to design a large locomotive for narrow gauge. Queensland Railways, in particular, has a large and intensively used network (long trains of export coal powered by several diesel units, for example), making it an obvious candidate for such a locomotive.
The Australian government has recently enacted a carbon tax (mentioned in one of the articles you linked to)-- usual moaning and whining from right-wing politicians about how any sort of environmental regulation is a job-killer, but here we see the other side: by putting a price on the "externalities" of emissions, a carbon tax looks likely to stimulate new investment in more efficient locomotives!