Taken from the official laws published on the fifa web site:
"A direct free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following four offences:

* tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball
* ...
"

I just rewatched the higlights of the match, and it is clear that this is exactly what the australian plaier did, and in fact he wasn't even able to touch the ball, he did touch only the italian plaier who actually fooled him bringing the ball away...basicaly this shows mainly how the italian player was superior to the australian player, and not a cheater. And according to this rule it was penalty.