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They already do have a subsidiary doing LDH's. It's called QantasLink. 
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I think you know what I meant!
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Shayne, the Twotter cruises at 150kts so you're looking at upwards of 3hrs, at the moment with the Q200 it's only 2 hours.
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That is true, but Concorde made travel faster and now its retired and we use slower aircraft again to serve the places Concorde once did. The new Twin Otters could work if "Q200s stopped servicing/being able to service Lord Howe". I think out of all the aircraft you have mentioned an Twin Otter would be cheaper to operate then all of them and would be able to use that runway because of its STOL capabilities with a full load.
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what the load penalty for something like ATR42-500 would be? 6-8pax, maybe more
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If your estimate is correct, an Twin Otter can carry roughly double that amount of people. However I do think if a DHC-6 Twin Otter operated to Lord Howe it would not use Sydney as the destination or departure port. Sure it may be slower but I think carrying more pax in one go might influence the decision too.
If Qantaslink retired their Q200s and Q200s cannot use Lord Howe like you mentioned I think some smaller airlines would consider using Twin Otters to Lorde Howe Island!