New into this diesel game so wondering if you guys had preferences for or against any of the Aussie brands of diesel fuel?

Hi tricki...
As a rule deisel is deisel regardless of brand.
All the fuel is supplied from the refinery gates, which means:

Vic from Geelong and Altona (Shell and Mobile)
NSW: Caltex and Shell (sydney and some areas of NSW from Victorian supply)
QLD: BP
SA: Supplied from Vic now the Ampol refinery is closed
Southern WA: BP kwinana, Northern WA and Darwin: Shipped from Singapore

So if you're a BP fan in Victoria...your fuel is refined by Shell or Mobile
In WA your Shell shop gets its fuel from the BP refinery.
Each brand has its own priority additives which are also added at either ther refinery or at the distribution terminals for the brand.
All fuel brands have to meet a particular Cetane number (equivilent to Octane for petrol), with anything above 55 cetane being irrelevant as at that point the ignitability levels out.
Fuel contamination is not a refinery issue and is nearly always traceable to the service station underground tanks as the source.

The reason Aus suddenly has all the Euros dropping deisel engines in all their makes and models is the advent in Aus of ultra low sulphur deisel.
The refineries had to upgrade their processes to extract sulphur compounds from the crude (a particular problem with the heavier Arabian crudes) which was very expensive and forced some changes to the supply chain as the refineries shed capability to niche their products. (Shell Geelong looked heavily to Aviation markets), and some simply closed (or are considering closure / rationalisation) as the import cost of crude vs the returns from sales is not profitable.

wopac5 - thanks for the excellent info! Very interesting...
Given your comments on the low-sulphur fuels, what's your thoughts regarding the addition of 2-stroke to the fuel? If sulphur acted as a lubricant I presume the addition of 2-stroke oil would add back some lubrication to the mix?

Thanks!

There is a quite lengthy discussion about adding 2 stroke oil to diesel. I personally don't, and have never added it to any vehicle, including heavy plant that we used to run. You're engine will outlast the car just on standard diesel so don't worry too much about adding fuel additives.

The only thing I've ever added to fuel is Millers diesel additive, just because my Leon's done quite a few miles and Millers does clean fuel systems up to increase efficiency, and makes the engine run better if the car has been run on standard diesel for several thousand miles. Mine: 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35
Family's: 2009 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto, Stornoway

Yorkshire - God's County

Tricki...I agree with bigdave...there is no credible advantage in after market fuel addatives.
All the priority addatives (detergents etc) are added at the refinery or the terminal. The addatives and octane (Cetane) rating and seasonal blends for the various sales regions are all done at the refinery.
eg: the fuel blend for Tamworth in April is different to the fuel supplied to Tamworth in May, and also different to the same rated fuel in Melbourne for April.
As you would be aware, the biggest issue with deisel is water.
This comes from many sources and is partly condensed stripping steam from the distillation (although very low ppm and is treated at the refinery to remain dispersed), service station underground tanks (the major source) and some from ther humid air drawn into the tank as the fuel is used. Pay particular attention to the fuel filter drain for water buil up, and drain reguarly.

The only tyime I've run 2-stroke in a car was with my first cat...a '71 Mazda RX2 coupe. Loved that thing...but the oil feed to the carby for supply to the apex seals didn't work, so a litre of 2stroke to 60 litres of fuel work at treat.

I don't know if Shell markets V-Power Diesel in Australia but if they do, try a couple of tanks full and see if you can feel the difference. The burn rate (heat release) is different as well as the Cetane being higher than regular Diesel so there is a performance improvement. It also has a better nozzle cleaning package than regular so after a couple of fills the injector sprays will be back towards new condition. The 2-3% economy improvement in my Td4 Manual does not recover the 5% higher price but it make the car a bit more fun to drive. Gone... 2013 XS TD4 Manual Firenze Red
Gone... 2008 (09MY) XS Td4 Manual Stornaway Grey
Prior... 2003 G4 Discovery 2, 1998 Disco 1 and 1997 Disco 1 Company car before that
Also gone in Nov'13, after 7.5 yrs, to new owners with time for more TLC - 1980 Series III 88
Current 2015 Discovery Sport HSE 2.0