Be careful what you are whishing for!
Here in Germany we have DHL as the "federal parcel service" as they have a cooperation with Deutsche Post, the federal letter service. They are not too bad, though cases like what you describe can happen at times. But rarely.
But then we have the "luxury" of several other logistics companies: Amazon, Hermes, UPS, FedEx, DPD and more. Amazon does only do Amazon parcels and works pretty good. UPS and FedEx work also well, but are hellish expensive. But companies like DPD (Deitscher Paket Dienst) are total failures. They are something like the Bermuda triangle for mail. And they lie straight at your face if you ask them where your stuff is. "You were not at home when we tried to deliver", "We couldn't find your house", "We try again tomorrow", or what ever else they may make up if you ask them whats going on. In truth one of their drivers or other staff just stole you parcel, since it contained something he fancied. But its kind of understandable - they only employ migrants for minimum wage.
In a country like Australia it must be difficult to transport mail cost effectively. How long does it normally take to send a parcel from the east coast to the west coast? And what does it cost?