Hey Betty,
I'm an Aussie ex-pat and I really get where you're coming from. What's really interesting as well, is how many people have an automatic response thing going on, so they don't even read the job. That's a real eye opener too.
Yep it sucks to pay for exams, it sucks when I accept a job, get docked the money, then the person disappears. It sucks having a completion rate which is seemingly low, but I've finished ALL my jobs on here - it's just some haven't been paid through FL so my stats look bad. And it sucks having employers NOT understanding how FL works, thinking I might only finish 50% of jobs, etc, etc. It really sucks having Indian/Pak/Sri Lankan (sorry but it's true) putting on fake jobs all the time that are captcha ones instead of what is advertised. Just crap.
Yes, I've just opened accounts with Odesk, Guru etc, where not only the work, but the treatment by the site is better.