This might help non-Aussies to understand the attitude of Australian publishers.
National Press Club debate 2009
The NPC is a weekly thing where they have a speaker/debate/panel speak for about half an hour and then questions, usually from journalists. This debate was between Allan Fels, former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and Louise Adler, a senior figure in Australian publishing and literary circles. The debate was regarding parallel importation of print books and was around the time there was a Productivity Commission inquiry into the topic. Ultimately the PC recommended the laws be changed to allow parallel importation but the publishing industry successfully lobbied Government to leave the existing rules in place. Essentially it's cheaper to buy a print book from the US and have it shipped to Australia, than to buy at the publisher recommended retail price in Australia. Which is why BookDepository was hugely successful. I easily recall paying $20AUD for MMPBs on a regular basis, for midlist genre fiction.
In terms of ebooks, the situation is in some ways worse. For print books the point of sale is the location of the seller, so no matter what book you wanted you would theoretically be able to buy it wherever it was published and get is posted over. However for ebooks the point of sale is the location of the buyer, so if the book was not published in Australia, too bad, you can't get it legally at any price.