Your comments on the APEC BTC program are a little off-base. The entire scheme is based on reciprocity. The requirements for participation, and for having foreign nationals' cards endorsed for visa-free travel to a particular state, are up to each participating state. In your case, Australia has imposed very stringent requirements for participation by its own nationals, which in turn apply to foreign nationals wishing to have their BTC endorsed for visa-free travel to Australia. I suspect it has done this because it doesn't want every Dick, Tom and Harry in, say, Thailand or Vietnam having visa-free access to Australia. But because of reciprocity, you must suffer the same requirements your government is imposing on other APEC nationals.
Likewise, the US and Canada have joined on a provisional basis and since they are not providing visa-free access to other APEC countries, holders of US and Canada issued BTCs don't receive any visa-waiver benefits.
Don't discount the program just because your country is an outlier in its (lack of) participation.
I'm calling APEC BTC a boondoggle because it's useless to the vast majority of actual frequent travelers in APAC. (I used to work in Singapore in a near-100%-travel job. I couldn't get one, and neither could anybody else in my office.) I fully understand the political reasons that make it so, but that doesn't make it any more useful for the hoi polloi.
And my strong suspicion is that the AU passport will end up the same: otherwise, if anybody could truly use it to go anywhere, everybody would use it to GTFO from Somalia, Eritrea, the Congo, CAR etc.
Likewise, the US and Canada have joined on a provisional basis and since they are not providing visa-free access to other APEC countries, holders of US and Canada issued BTCs don't receive any visa-waiver benefits.
Don't discount the program just because your country is an outlier in its (lack of) participation.