From what I saw of the match (had something else to do mid way through the second half), Australia cynically gave away penalties every time Scotland looked threatening and made some inroads. If those offences didn't take place, there would have been more chance that Scotland could have scored a try or two. Reducing the score for penalties would do nothing but give the defending side more of a reason to offend.
This isn't having a go at Australia, every side does it. It also doesn't excuse Scotland's lack of cutting edge and ability to finish a move off, but it certainly doesn't mean that a close game where one side has scored a few try's and the other has only scored penalties is unfair.
Saying that, there are a couple of things that could be changed imo. Firstly ref's are over eager to award a penalty for offside from a knock-on, instead of ruling accidental offside. A lot of the time it's a reaction from the player in front of the ball, not something completely deliberate. Secondly, I'm not a fan of penalties that occur when a player kicks the ball being located where the ball lands. Sometimes very minor offences that occur in one 22 (slightly late challenge for example, such as Coopers late hit on Maitland today) end up in kick-able penalties in the other 22, and I don't see why that should necessarily be the case.
