Torres & Bik
The mute has undergone a bit of a renaissance in the States after being a dog with a very bad name for a lot of years.
The problems primarily were that the demograph of people flying them was that of low time, C402/PA31 experience or successful private pilots. ( a bit like the C210) operating in what is by any measure a high speed flight regime. And not knowing what they didn't know.
Nowadays the training (knowlege) is more sophisticated, and operated properly of course the machine is very economic.
As for Australia, the killer as far as I know was that the CASA requirement for 500hrs command or Icus brought in after 3 prangs here made it unviable once the experienced pilots moved on.
A million US is a bit steep, but there are certainly some good ones on the market. Check Tradeaplane Torres.