Have been around for a bit. IIRC they started during Covid - after all fewer people flying, CL's relatively empty.. why not? I've seen some indications of a few people recently getting these invites so it's nice that these are again a thing.
I've had two myself and I didn't find them a tease at all. Sure, I'll never be a CL member, but I see it as a treat. One of those intangibles that QF can bestow that can make the P1 feel a little more valued.
During my visit the CL's I was lucky enough to be admitted to (BNE and MEL) were dreadfully quiet. In fact I wound up spending 4 hours in the MEL one, and it was basically empty and I fell asleep! LOL (my MEL-SYD-OOL was cancelled so they put me on a direct).
Now I do want to say that while the CL is very nice indeed, and like a mini F lounge (yes, I enjoyed the S&P squid in BNE of course) they're not QUITE at that level (ie: only aus sparkling wine - but at least I could have bubbles with my brekky which was quite nice!). I mean they are nice lounges, super quiet and great service but I wouldn't be blown away .. and since I saw virtually no other guests (and I suspect this was part of the invite. .. they would not be expecting any or many actual CL's but have the lounges there and staffed it probably makes some sense to let a P1 in while keeping the privacy of the real movers and shakers that do inhabit them. Anyway as I said I fell asleep in MEL (it may have been the bubbly breakfast too). I mean at the end f the day it's a quiet, comfy place to wait for a flight but it's not like super fantastic. The menus are much smaller than in the int F lounges for example. So great for a meal(far better than the J dom lounges of course), table service, some nice drinks.. but yeah.. that's about it imo.
Now, I wouldn't say no to another invite of course. I really liked those invites I got and enjoyed the experiences and I think it's a nice kind of recognition QF can fairly easily do. So why not?
