I'm curently studying nursing externally through that same uni... Its ok although there ALWAYS seems to be some big fat problem every time I go to an exam (eg: not enough exam papers for every one).

Anyhoo, I doubt you'd have any trouble getting HECS. I think you just have to be a citizen of Australia to be eligible. I think it's connected to your tax file number and as long as you havent used up all your HECS entitlement (which you wouldnt have if you havent been to uni before) then you will get it no probs.
I thought all Uni degrees were offering ONLY hecs (aka CSP) from 2008 onwards. and that you couldnt opt to pay full fees unless you werent eligible for hecs.

STAT is not particularly difficult - Its multiple choice, and its more about the way you think and approach problems. Its not really about how much stuff you know. I found it more annoying than anything else. Did you ever do those annoying "Maths Competitions" in High School? I thought it was pretty similar to those. Have a look on the Acer website - you can get some example questions there (website is www acer dot edu dot au).