If you phoned the Australian Office , the normal booking fee is AUD60 which is approximately USD56. if they charged that plus the US office's USD20 then there is something wrong and I would contact the US and ask to get the USD20 refunded

For future suggestion, if booking an AA award , pay for it through the UK office which currently costs GBP20 iirc ( approx AUD33 / USD31 ) and they have no issues taking credit cards. The AU office booking fees are horrendous

Dave