The problem with these schemes to avoid the tax is that both the buyer and seller might be charged with avoiding tax, a Federal Offense. That said, buying through a US entity would overcome the refusal by some US companies to ship to Australia. For an Australian to do this himself, he would likely need a US bank account. With the closed US system, opening one isn’t easy and would at least require a trip to the US. That represents more $
I have used a freight consolidator to ship stufff here by surface freight. It takes a few weeks but it isn’t hard to plan that far ahead, besides, the local guy has just about everything available in the US and some that are not.
This could be a bonanza for him.