Macquarie Bank Platinum Credit Card

Macquarie Bank have just released details of a very exciting new platinum credit card. This is my first posting on platinum credit cards but I have been looking for a platinum card for some time now in Australia. It's certainly an interesting offer from Macquarie Bank. A$200 is reasonably competitive for a platinum card with rewards (AMEX Plat and others are around A$400!). The Macquarie rewards site I found at Http://www.macquariebankrewards.com.au which looks like it applies to the rewards on the platinum card. The main features look solid too - 0% for 6 months on balance transfers is becoming pretty standard. I thought I read somewhere there was 0% for 4 months on purchases also?? I think the way the annual fee works - a friend of mine works in the Investment Bank at Macquarie (lucky him) - said that it's $200 for the first year and then $300 every year thereafter, but he wasn't too sure as they get offered a staff offer. If that's the case though, $300 still seems very reasonable for a platinum. It looks like the ACE insurance is free travel insurance and in rewards there is some sort of free gift up to $1,000 which includes a free business class flight or take a friend for half price if you fly a few times in a year and book through the MyChoice travel site - which covers major domestic flights in Australia. That sounds pretty good if you travel a few flights a year - especially when you consider 3.25:$1 for booking through their MyChoice travel (nice)! The normal earn rate of 1.25:$1 is pretty solid with what appears to be no loss of points over time - points are just capped to $200,000 a year by the looks of it which seems higher than AMEX ($100,000). Have you seen any other cards that Macquarie are offering in your searching? I'm assuming they will offer a low rate card too, but that might not fit with the premium Macquarie brand in Australia... "Founding Member" is nice to have on the card and I assume this will be for a limited time? The website says you can request terms and conditions prior to applying on request. But how do you do this? It looks like a solid platinum offer with lots of features and benefits and I'm sorry AMEX but I'm SICK of having your card refused at lots of shops and restaurants who don't take it when I hand it over! On the Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) front, that's pretty funny given they missed out on the Qantas purchase! But I have to say this, I don't mind so much as it appears from the rewards site that you can use your points (and supplement with cash if you are short) to book on most flights on most other airlines in Australia and internationally and you can use points for TAXES which I don't think you can for QFF or other programs?? Does anyone out there know? I'd be interested in what you think of other platinum offers as I think I'm going to get a card which has benefits rather than sticking with my low rate card and my AMEX. Besides purely QFF based reward platinum cards such as Westpac Altitude and AMEX, what platinum card would you recommend with both travel and other gift/product type rewards on it with a reasonably low annual fee?? I want a sophisticated looking card too - the Macquarie and AMEX cards look sexy - there are so many other crass looking platinum cards in Australia! Interested in your thoughts if you're out there and want to discuss! JP