According to the facebook page this is "A new initiative of the Warrumbungle Shire Council Economic Development & Tourism Committee" I'm not sure MyPhotoClub has much to do it with it
Seems they're trying to drive people to the area, thus why one of the categories can only be entered if it was captured in the area.
Another quote from their facebook page: "So many awesome reasons to come to the Warrumbungle Shire and Capture the Cosmos!"
And further to the discussion of fees, someone complained and they responded:
"Sorry if it makes you angry Jacob. The entry is a fee you pay once only and you can enter twice in each of the 3 sections at no additional cost. The committee decided on this to cover the cost of the website and the printing of winning photographs and other expenses for the final exhibition."
"The decision on the fee was not taken lightly, the committee sought advice from people with experience in photography competition and photography exhibiting. We had the difficult decision to balance the cost of a quality exhibition and the entry fee. You as a photographer do not need to print your images and can enter more than once with that single fee. Hopefully in the future we can reduce the fee to grow and encourage more participation. I hope that gives you some background as to our deliberations."