Firstly best of luck to solving this problem. I faced a similar one a couple of years ago when I considered bringing an enfield in from india - more as a toy and souviner that anything else. From memory the largest sticking point was that the bike wasn't manufactured to Australian standards - if it had a AS plate then there was no problems.

The Aust standards are the reason old bikes and cars can be imported easily - the AS just didn't exist pre 1988 I believe.

Given that your bike is exactly the same as sold in Aust there is a possiblity that the manufacturer can supply a plate for the bike. I have heard of Honda doing this before but... apparently it is not fun. However given your situation I believe you have a fighting change. With the plate you don't have any of the problems that you are referring.

I too considered the storage trick but was advised that at that stage customs were really into detailed documentation from these types of imports - visas, entry and exit stamps, full rego details, etc and there was no sure fire way of ensuring an easy import.

The other option is to import in parts and buy a similar trashed one and "rebuild" it using those parts - not palatable but I'm sure has been done before. The important part is you need a AS plate to register - can still be done if all the import documents are up to scratch.

Best of luck.

Tom