In my very brief overview, it looks like you guys have already made a decent start with the forum. So congrats on the new endeavour.
Quality workbench programs, national mentor-ship programs, video logs, supplier and trader interviews, affiliated product reviews, visionary product building and incentive programs, new and cutting edge material awareness, category build-off competitions, strategic (see poached) international members of sufficient knowledge to keep in touch with global trends ect ect. These are some of the elements (in my own opinion) that will make a stand against the worlds best.
America and Europe for example, have it pretty easy on the exposure front, as money is a pretty big factor driving the hobby gears. We on the other hand, seem to have oodles of talent, yet not enough people driving it! Once again, in my opinion only, however i believe there is a massive gap that can be filled by co-ops of ozzies that pull their finger out to make things happen.
As for the forum itself, a knowledgeable and civil culture is a sure fire way of maintaining interest. Guiding the green and uninitiated correctly also swells the ranks. Other than that the rest would sort itself out.
Just thinking out load at any rate, as I mentioned, I'm brand new here, so I may very well be speaking out of tune!
V-out