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UK prices certainly are high, I think it has to do with higher customs and GST (VAT) charges.
In many cases when equipment is made in a third country (ie Pentax EPs in Japan, many telescopes in China/Taiwan) the goods don't travel through the USA to get here so the Australian price could, depending on the exchange rate against that third party's currency and the comparative costs of shipping to Australia versus shipping to US, be lower than in the US. The disadvantage we have of course is the very much smaller market than the US and so our retailers have both less bargaining power with manufacturers and distributors to get cheaper wholesale prices and need to charge higher retail margins to stay in business.
I suspect the exchange rate thing cuts both ways, at the moment the Australian dollar is high against the $US and yen and customers have an expectation of pricing based on the current rate which can hurt retailers who paid for stock months ago when the $A was lower. However, when the $A drops, as it inevitably will, stock paid for now will be comparatively cheaper for the retailer.
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