As stated above had dart.com.au been accepted that would have been that. As
  I had invested quit a lot of money into the venture prior to getting a
  domain name, ie: company formation etc. I needed to use dart.???.au

Uh, lets re-state this.

	You invested your (and possibly other peoples) money in a company
	with an *assumption* you would have a specific dns nameform, and
	had product, literature, advertizing and publically visible activity
	made with that name before you OWNED it?

Gee. I don't think you can blame all of your problems on other people.

Maybe the world needs a DNS FAQ #101 with some suggestions like

	Your DNS name may not be what you initially apply for, or expect.
	If you make critical business assumptions about your online presence
	before legal ownership, caveat emptor applies.

DNS in Australia has some problems, but not all problems are the fault of DNS
management.

-George
--
George Michaelson         |  DSTC Pty Ltd
Email: ggm§dstc.edu.au    |  University of Qld 4072
Phone: +61 7 3365 4310    |  Australia
  Fax: +61 7 3365 4311    |  http://www.dstc.edu.au