Thank Hollywood for that. I don't know if it's ever actually been taught in Australia, I could be wrong, but I thought I heard that somewhere. I have been Senior First Aid certified since 1993, and it has never been included in a course.

I have been present at two choking incidents - one at a Mothers' Group where a 1 year old was walking around with a rice cake and everyone, including an RN, just started to panic and scream. The other was a two year old eating popcorn, and both happened in the same week, so I am SO wary of kids eating these foods now!
The Heimlich manouevre has never been a standard part of first aid in Australia, I think, but it certainly isn't now. People know it from the movies... but there isn't actually clinical evidence that it works better than the methods mentioned above, and there is plenty of evidence that it can do more harm than good.