Wow! This forum is great isn't it? 10 replies in only one day! Thanks everyone for your help. 

I failed to mention that I have already bought one machine locally so this wouldn't be my first purchase but, yes, I admit that I am still very new to this.  Seems like the overwhelming consensus is to be patient and wait for a machine to come up locally and I'll certainly be taking this advice.  Rest assured, I'm a very careful person and certainly wouldn't be rushing out and buying anything without doing all the necessary preparation, checks, etc. which is I guess why are started this topic, so I could start learning more about the process which I might do one day further down the track.

However, judging from your replies and also from searching back through past threads on this topic it seems that getting machines from overseas is sometimes justified. Bally Fathom was one machine, for example, that people seemed to agree was worthy of going to the extra effort for as they are difficult to find here.

Also, from the replies it seems there might be a middle-ground between buying and importing single machines yourself and buying a machine from a container a dealer has brought in after it's already in the country.  A couple of people mentioned that they have used car importers to bring machines in, paying only a flat fee for the space in their container and in previous threads people have said that they have bought machines in the US and then sent them within the US to a container being shipped to Australia by someone like Mark C.  I'm guessing both these options would be considerably easier and cheaper.  Can we hear more from people who have done this and how it was organised?

Interesting that this is exactly what I have. I made a contact with someone who imports cars and parts and I just tag along with them. I don't pay fumigation, import costs etc. One flat fee.

TSPP, would this contact be happy for other people to tag along with them? Or do they consider it a hassle and are doing a special favour for you?

It seems to me that it's not just the fact that these machines are cheaper over there (and right now they are much cheaper because of the parity of our dollar) but also that there is a wider range and in some cases better quality.  I think this is worth exploring more because ultimately it's better for everyone (in Australia at least) if more individuals bring machines in because then these hand-picked machines begin to circulate in collections here. I'm sure with all the knowledge and experience on this site people could even cooperate to bring a container load of machines in together, an "Aussie Pinball" container as it were.