Return air flight to Australia

Any advice to a person thinking of flying out to Australia for 3 weeks over coming Chrstmas period. I have in mind should one book now and the implications if for some reason theh trip had to be cancelled.

Are you looking for advice specifically on whether to book now or not?
I spent Christmas in Oz a few years ago and can give you some general tips.
If you are only going down for 3 weeks you might be best to avoid stopovers to maximise your time in Australia. Even then 3 weeks is not enough to see everything so I would suggest pick 3-5 places you want to see.
I think with Emirates flying from Dublin to Dubai, you should be able to do two long haul flights as opposed to one short and two long haul flights, which is what I did. Might be easier?

Thanks Shawady. Person going to see a friend so travel around there is not an issue. I suppose it is the booking aspect/insurance i had in mind.

Check the conditions of the individual fares - cheap tickets are very unlikely to be freely cancellable .. at the very least there'd be a large fee for cancellation before departure .. Only more expensive (like much more expensive) tickets are likely to offer you free cancellation or cancellation for a nominal fee. Shop around and see basically.

If you take out travel insurance it may cover you if a (non pre-existing) medical condition were to stop you from travelling .. but it won't cover you if you cancel because you don't feel like going or just change your mind etc.