Well to be fair, Botcon didn't start out as officially affiliated to Hasbro. So technically they are just returning to their roots.

There was probably a non-compete clause when Hasbro decided to do their own thing which I would assume has expired now, allowing them to pick up the pieces and try and get back to doing what they love. There's a fair bit of good will in the Botcon name, so it would be silly not to use it.

I still claim that Kentucky was the best Botcon.

To answer your question about an Australian going to something... You'd probably be better saving up and just going to something like San Diego or NY Comic-Con. The way the TF specific cons are structured I wouldn't suggest its worth the money any more unless you've made friends in the hobby that you want to catch up with.