Im a handheld gamer and dont have the ps3 but like handhelds games are region free.
I live in new zealand where prices are usualy even higher then australia but i buy all my games on ebay and get them for like half what it costs here.
Oh and I would like to point out that its not only certain consoles that are expensive:
Wii : 500 nzd (around 400 usd)
xbox elite: 800 nzd (around 640 usd)
ps3 : 800 nzd ( around 640 usd)
psp: 300 nzd ( around 240 usd)
ds: 200 nzd ( around 160 usd)
Most games on each console are around 100-140 nzd ( 80-115 usd)