Turning early after takeoff.
Sunfish,
The turn at 500 should be procedural, not mandated by law, except possibly in GAAPs/CTR. Yes it might lead to illusions in the inexperienced, but why do we need rules against it? Black hole approaches and Somatogravic Illusions (night) also catch out the inexperienced, but there are no laws against a new night VFR pilot flying out the back of Bourke.
There are circumstances where it is safer to turn prior to 500', but the law won't allow that. That I cannot get airborne in a single from an ALA in upper kumbutka west, and commence a gentle climbing turn to increase my chances of making it back if all goes quiet is ludicrous and a degredation of safety.
It should be up to the pilot to decide when it is safe to turn. You state that you are still getting the aircraft sorted at that height and you wouldn't turn prior. That is the normal thought process of a trained pilot. Such decision making should be part of the pilot's training.
One of the issues in Australian aviation is that there is a want to remove any form of decision making from the pilot; to have everything SOP'd and done to exacting spelt out procedures. That is fine for Airlines and some GA, but once you are out in the real bush, there are many other factors to consider and where it would be nice to be able to use our judgement without fear of transgressing some regulation. There are so many variables in remote area flying that are unquantifiable, and for that reason there should be fewer laws.