I believe APNIC requires you to be a registered company unlike RIPE who will allow individuals as customers, but the flip side is that becoming a company in Australia is quite easy paperwork, unlike in Germany where you have to put up a $25000 bond.
Edit: APNIC also wants you to provide some plans for your network upfront while RIPE NCC is more willing to just assume good faith. But their requirements do not seem onerous, and you are not held to the plans, it's just to check you have a need for the resources.
Registering a company in Australia is virtually free. APNIC fees, on the other hand, are much higher than what you'd pay with RIPE. It's pretty hard to justify a minimum of $1300 a year + a $500 sign-up fee just to have a personal ASN that you don't need unless you want to run a full table.
Not really. Have to be in the region and have an accepted requirement for PI space (dual homing is accepted). If you want a second /24, you need to have a plan to use it within a year. If you need more space, good luck have fun.
(You're expected to do the same qualification for transferring addresses too)
Edit: APNIC also wants you to provide some plans for your network upfront while RIPE NCC is more willing to just assume good faith. But their requirements do not seem onerous, and you are not held to the plans, it's just to check you have a need for the resources.