Gentlemen,
Packaging is the sole responsibility of the supplier/sender.
The days of sea mail for shipping online purchases died years ago.
Your children will not wait 6 weeks for a parcel to be delivered, they track the parcel on their phones and ipads every hour or less and scream at any delay. The future
Jack, that item could have been wrapped in paper or a small piece of bubble wrap and mailed in a satchel. Instead you got a strong box, that was on hand probably, air mail, and a signature on delivery, hence the cost but you did get it in good condition.
There are many ways to get things posted into Australia by air mail or sea mail. Many companies, apart from the government one, bring in all sorts of goodies, some of it even gets examined by Customs and Aqis.
The cheap items bought online ie China free postage, Latvia
the choice of smugglers or GB mail houses, takes up to several weeks and is low low priority and examined/sorted/delivered with the same attitude.