You'll need to address this concern to the international financial community. MS doesn't control currency exchange rates.

At the moment AUD $1.00 buys me USD $1.06 as of close yesterday. I should be up for about USD $19 for the Hawaii pack. Taking into account credit card fees and stuff, it comes out about even.Yet Microsoft want to charge me AUD $29.95 which equates to about USD $32. Microsoft will not let me purchase in USD, which is what I generally do when purchasing downloads from anyone else. I have to buy in AUD and they want 50% more for the same thing, even though the USD and AUD are about even, though slightly in favour of the AUD.This is not an exchange rate issue.

At the moment AUD $1.00 buys me USD $1.06 as of close yesterday. I should be up for about USD $19 for the Hawaii pack. Taking into account credit card fees and stuff, it comes out about even.Yet Microsoft want to charge me AUD $29.95 which equates to about USD $32. Microsoft will not let me purchase in USD, which is what I generally do when purchasing downloads from anyone else. I have to buy in AUD and they want 50% more for the same thing, even though the USD and AUD are about even, though slightly in favour of the AUD.This is not an exchange rate issue.

What about buying MS points from Amazon.com? Would that make any difference?

I read somewhere that the points system is going away this year. Not sure if a date has been set.

At the moment AUD $1.00 buys me USD $1.06 as of close yesterday. I should be up for about USD $19 for the Hawaii pack. Taking into account credit card fees and stuff, it comes out about even.Yet Microsoft want to charge me AUD $29.95 which equates to about USD $32. Microsoft will not let me purchase in USD, which is what I generally do when purchasing downloads from anyone else. I have to buy in AUD and they want 50% more for the same thing, even though the USD and AUD are about even, though slightly in favour of the AUD.This is not an exchange rate issue.

Oh, ok. I misunderstood the issue. It's been 10 years since I was in Australia so I haven't kept up with the exchange rate. Have you looked into alternative places to buy MS points? I bought mine through Amazon, since they were cheaper than buying them from Microsoft. Look for the "online" gift cards, where they email you the redemption code as soon as you make the purchase. You may also be able to buy point cards locally. I don't know if they are sold there, but they are sold in US retail stores.