Ant68 (Tony) must know what he is doing, since he has bought a whack of NIB Sterns and has visited the STERN factory a few times and knows Gary Stern well.
Tony travels to the USA quite a bit and has a large import business for a living so he is geared well to do imports, but i think for anyone else, the Aussie distributor would be a easier option.   Also, Mr Tilt has bought a whack of NIB Sterns as well locally from Australian distributors and has also done well.  Both members would probably have the two best NIB Stern collections in Australia by the sounds of it. 

I think Beaky hit the nail on the head as well, Gary Stern isnt stupid and has obviously designed the power issue into the machine so Aussies buy NIB Sterns from Aussie distrubutors which is one of Gary's main overseas markets with decently high sales.
At the end of the day, it doesnt matter how you get a NIB Stern pinball, but having one in your line up would be an absolute blast.
I have always had my eye on a BNIB Shrek or Family Guy. Both machines are very appealing to the eye. So many great Stern titles to choose from now.