At that time most Australians financed their homes with traditional fixed rate mortgages. As Australians moved around, they would sign new, traditional mortgages each time, costing them a lot of money in interest and not allowing them to ever get ahead.
Recognizing the problem, the National Australian Bank in Melbourne, Australia realized that a changing job market was altering consumers' finances throughout their lives in ways unknown to their parents. Standard mortgages, with no built-in flexibility, had become more of a burden than a path to homeownership. Because of this problem, the National Bank of Australia decided to offer daily interest calculation in addition to not penalizing borrowers for increasing payments or paying in lump sums. In taking these actions the bank created what is sometimes called the "Australian Mortgage".
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From Melbourne the idea eventually migrated to England, New Zealand, and Canada as well. The product was introduced in America in the early 2000s but has not caught on as none of the larger banks here are willing to offer an MMA product. Additionally, Americans poor method of money management, which has been pre-conditioned by the big financial institutions, is probably also a big barrier to acceptance of flexible mortgages here.
The beauty of the MMA is that it makes our pre-conditioned, poor money management very transparent, helping us save and see the reward for our savings in reduced debt interest charges. And as the savings pile up, those same savings pay down the dept principal in a much more efficient manner.
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