Ahhh yes another great story of Australian "Innovation"...
As I understand it no handheld radios are legal to import or sell in Australia. The Icom IC-A15 has an exemption that allows it to be imported and sold but it must be sold with the warning that it dosent meet the requirements ie the text you quote below.
I am a bit vague of all the details but as I understand the story is the Australian standard for Airband handheld radios was amended in 2010 and again in 2012. This changed the technical requirements for something to do with testing. Standards Australia were told (by Icom and others) that no manufacturer met this standard but stubbornly pushed on with the changes. ACMA adopt the Australian standard as the legal requirements. The legislation has a 12 month grandfathering period. Icom write to ACMA pointing out that no radio meets the requirements leaving the industry with no radios. ACMA [sarcasm]helpfully[/sarcasm] issues an
exemption to allow non-complying radios to be sold in australia.
If you were a radio maker would you spend $500,000 to develop and test a new "Australian special" radio that you were only likely to sell at best 500 units per year? Would you as a consumer pay a $500 premium for a radio with an australian c-tick and no other additional features? Why cant we just adopt a convenient international standard? It seems regulatory burden and rule by exemption are not confined to casa...