Thanks, Maus...
LW50 - The Australian government had a fighter program going in 2001, headed for a competition, but in 2002 (after the PM had been in Washington) announced that the future fighter would be the F-35. The guy who was supposed to be leading the Dassault campaign landed in Melbourne hours after the announcement, with a phone message recalling him to France.
Of course, the F-35 was much cheaper then, weighed 3000 pounds less empty, and was to be in service by 2011. The Gripen E didn't exist and the Rafale and Typhoon still looked wobbly and if you'd suggested that the Chinese would have a stealth fighter in FSD before the F-35 was operational, you'd have been certified.
Since then, successive Oz governments have simply refused to re-evaluate the decision, backed up by phony foundations, a complaisant local media and a platoon of online fankiddies.