As one who's lived in Melbourne for the best part of six years, I'm fairly disappointed with this decision. Obviously they are concerned about the quality of the fields, but I think they are doing a great disservice to the event and to Victoria.
I find the most compelling Oz opens have been the ones played on the traditional sandbelt courses like Victoria and Kingston and now we'll all have to wait several years before that happens again.
Matt, it is a good decision because if the decision wasn't made, rather than seeing a compelling Open on the sandbelt in a few years, there mightn't have been an Australian Open in existence any longer.
The future of upper end pro golf in Australia lies crucially around events not moving between markets.
There is one way to bring the Open back. And that would be if the Masters left town. There are currently a squillion different rumours of varying reliability on that event's future after this year and potential suitors.