[paulsherwin]

The Aussie electronics industry was surprisingly idiosyncratic and it's true that live chassis radios and TVs were very rare there, though I don't know if they were actually prohibited. There were technical reasons for this, but Australia was very protectionist throughout most of the 20th century despite the 'commonwealth preference' talk, and used what would now be called health and safety rules to discourage European and American imports. (Most countries were protectionist to a degree at that time of course, including Britain.)