I think you can do it, but the problem is, if you can justify building the Aus IC then you probably don’t need it.
In recent months I’ve seen more and more US all Pacific (or 90% Pac) strats and with strong US play in the Pacific you don’t really need the Aus IC. It would help, but the US can protect Aus and take EI. Bor is a little harder, but once those islands are taken there really isn’t much need for UK support. It’d be nice to have a little more UK support but its not necessary and certainly not at the expense of letting Russia get crushed by Germany.
I’d consider it under a few circumstances but never in rd 1. I’d wait until UK can get at least one of its NOs. And in this case probably the Pac NO. With the initial UK trn and Aus troops, if you time your taking of Car Is correctly then the US can reinforce with Naval protection. At this point if you are guaranteed to be able to count on that NO for 2-3 turns. You might be able to afford the investment. This would replace the potential IC in Norway. UK can usually afford an IC in rd 3 or so. Most cases it probably gets put in Nor, but with a strong Pacific game you can substitute it in for Aus instead.
But again if it looks that good to potentially place in Aus, you might be able to do an Indian IC instead, which is probably better. And finally if the US was able to take EI, you might be able to place it there. It really depends on how patient you are and what the overall board looks like as well as your overall strategy.
