Great story - I'm reading avidly on Tuesday mornings.
In Europe, multi-standard TVs and VCRs are fairly common. In the UK I can play both PAL and NTSC tapes recorded at either 50 or 60Hz. Situation largely arose as a result of Holywood releasing movies in the USA months before Europe and thus there being a demand.
Similar with all regions DVD players - common in Europe, rare in the states (mine is converted etc).
From the point of view of the story, I suspect Australia is similar to Europe, but it is not a problem since the TV and VCR combination could well not be able to play the tape.
Much more to the point though, a 15 year old tape that has been stored sub optimally may well not be playable and just deposit the coating on the head of the VCR requiring it to be cleaned as well.