An Australian patent provides protection only with

An Australian patent provides protection only within Australia. To obtain similar protection in other countries you generally have two choices:

File separate patent applications in each country. If you only intend to file in a few countries, this may be the most cost effective option.
File a single international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) which is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This path gives your application automatic effect in 151 countries, including Australia, where your PCT application becomes an application for a standard patent.

Whichever option you choose, you will still end up with separate patent applications in each county. The PCT is simply a method of facilitating the filing of a patent application in a number of countries simultaneously and all patent rights are granted by national or regional patent systems.

A PCT application will go through an examination process according to a set of standards accepted by all the 151 countries which are signatories to the treaty. This makes the process easier if you decide to pursue patent protection in these countries, as a lot of the groundwork has already been done.

An Australian provisional application can act as a priority document for a PCT application if the PCT application is submitted within 12 months of the submission of the provisional application.

For more information regarding the PCT visit the WIPO website and view the PCT Applicant's Guide.