Thanks again guys. I've been talking to my mechanic and a few other guys here who race these "expensive to fix machines" and I think my best bet at this stage is only to source a 2003-2004 3.2L engine. And I've been advised to try to source from the UK or Japan due to differences in the emissions and ECU to Australia (ie: UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia are all same cars).
A lot of other engines can fit, but I just don't have the cash for that right now unfortunately. Hence, I'm searching for an engine in the UK.
So if anyone reading this is a UK mechanic / dismantler / engine reconditioner that specialises in Porsches, please let me know. Also due to the frequency of these things blowing up and the lack of availability of used parts in Australia, my mechanic is pretty keen to set up a relationship with a good porsche specialist in the UK to source parts and perhaps ship over complete engines in advance and stockpile a few. Hence he's happy to use this inital search as a test! Hopefully that turns out as a good thing for me as I'm helping him search
I've been trawling the web and have sent off a few emails to Porsche specialist companies in the UK. I'll write back here with an update of how I go. I'm sure other Australians in a similar situation will find my forum entry in the future too.
Cheers,
Darren