<human>: In Australia, [Vanguard's index funds] have comparatively high (to the US Vanguard) management costs - 0.70%-0.90% for first $50,000, decreasing in $50,000 increments until a balance is > $100,000. The funds are managed, which was not something I was looking for either. 

On the other hand, [Vanguard ETFs] have management costs between 0.05%-0.30%, but would obviously incur a brokerage fee per transaction. Prices vary, but from what I can tell, in Australia this varies between $14.95 - $19.95 per transaction. 

I was thinking perhaps with the lower managements costs the ETFs might be the way to go. Regarding brokerages costs, to make it more cost-effective, one strategy might be to direct the money I would have had auto-deducted into the index fund into a high-earning interest account (3.50%), and only making a transaction in $5,000 blocks. But then again, this might be harder to do with multiple ETFs - i.e. I'll be doing everything in large chunks every few months and asset allocation might be a hassle. Also, it's less... 'passive' than I hoped my investment style would be - I like the idea of having an amount deducted automatically before I see it so I don't have to emotionally engage with the market etc.

And a last point,  I used Vanguard's fund comparison tool to compare, as an example, the Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF and the Vanguard High Yield Australian Shares Fund. [These are the results] As one would except, literally everything is the same except for the '12 month yield' percentages - the ETF has a 12 month yield of 7.43% and the index fund has 11.94%. Is this the result of fund management? Or is this the result of dividends being automatically reinvested into the fund?

Can you give me a shortened version of the text?
<bot>: Vanguard managed index funds have higher management costs than ETFs, but a higher 12 month yield; ETFs would incur brokerage costs + be harder to manage asset allocation. Which would you choose?