Hi.
I few things that I have meaning to comment on but haven't had the time.

1. Namescout.com prices in US dollars.
By default Namescout.com displays 'Order Summary'[1] prices in US 
dollars. There is a link on the page at the top where is say 'Prices 
in USD Dollars. Switch to Australian Dollars'. If you click on the 
link prices will be displayed in Australian dollars.


2. Au domains cost more than international domains
International domain registration can be completely automated:You 
select your domain, a script processes the credit card transaction, 
and you are allocated the domain. Because of the .AU domain policy, 
manual checking of the domain registration is required. The 
involvement of humans as a checking step in the registration process 
adds to the cost. [2]


3. Banned domains
The only problem I can see with not being able to register country 
TLDs as domains in the .AU range is that it means I can't register 
'NF.ID.AU'. [3]


NOTES:
1. The Namescout.com shopping cart.
2. I was going to write something about how much is the human markup 
worth here, but couldn't think of a good way to word it.
3. This is partially for humour purposes, though I did think I would 
be a good domain name.

-- 
Leefe Hicks
http://www.tengutech.net/wyvern/