In trying to offer information, I think my previous may have missed your point. Agreed that the beauracracy you encounter sounds silly. My suggestions are attempts to handle a problem that you should not have in the first place.

Sure, but the provisional patent covers that. The (cheap in world terms) NZ provisional buys you 12 months protection to seek funding and partners without a risk of being scooped.

You can then file a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application which gets your invention into the international WIPO system, which covers all the countries you mentioned (and more!). This gives you another 18 months to fund patent applications in individual countries around the world, while maintaining your priority date. That means nobody can scoop you.

The PCT applicatoin is more expensive, but by that point you've had 12 months to talk to people and get funding.

The patent system is not perfect, but it is designed to help in your situation. The total costs of patent protection are massive. But the amount needed up-front is low (comparable to the cost of a very cheap second-hand car). This up-front cost protects you while you find backers with real money.

If you do not have the price of a cheap second-hand car (around NZ $3000), then you can try to have potential partners sign a Non-disclosure Agreement. This is riskier than having a provisional patent, as the agreement may have gaps. Big companies may refuse to sign NDAs, or may shuffle the legal responsibility around their various divisions and screw you.

If you're interested, I'm happy to talk more about an NDA or a provisional patent. You can reach me at ensorassociates on Google's email provider.

I'm working in an NZ patent attorney firm, and I don't think there's a catch-22. You said:

The patent system provides for a provisional application. This means you give a general description of your idea (it solves problem X by means Y). You then have 12 months in which you can refine and market the invention before filing the formal "claims" which would define your patent monopoly. If granted, patent protection is back-dated to the provisional application date.

It sounds like you have a promising idea and the skills to carry it off. If you're keen to talk, you can email ensorassociates at google's email service. I would love to see this get off the ground (pun most definitely intended).

*ahem* (From New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Holland, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Qatar, Sweden, Israel, and perhaps a few more)