Where "A Few Snags Short of a Barbie" Comes From
Green's Dictionary of Slang traces it to a 1994 Sydney Morning Herald report using the closely related "one sausage short of a barbie," with the now-standard plural form ("a couple of snags short of a barbie") recorded in Tasmanian parliamentary Hansard by 1997 — like most phrases in this "shortfall" family (see also not the full quid, couldn't organise a chook raffle, and a few roos loose in the top paddock), the joke is always "not quite enough of something ordinary to make the whole thing work."
The same joke shape shows up in other varieties of English too, just with different local props: Americans say "a few sandwiches short of a picnic" or "not playing with a full deck," Britons say "a few bricks short of a load." Australia's version reaches for the barbecue instead.
Source:
"He tried to post a letter without a stamp - few snags short of a barbie, that one."
How Aussies Actually Use It
It's a gentler, more good-humoured way of calling someone a bit dim, usually about a specific silly moment rather than a permanent judgement.
It sits alongside near-identical idioms like "not the full quid" and "a few roos loose in the top paddock."
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