Partner Visa Requirement Help.

I am an American and my partner is Australian living in Queensland. We want to apply for a Partner visa but one of the requirements is that we have to have lived together for 12 months in a de facto relationship prior to applying. How exactly can we get the 12 months? I am presently finishing my degree program in the States and hope to graduate next may with a B.A. in Media and Communications with Minor in Art. My area of study in Media and Communications was web and graphic design. I looked at the skill lists and graphic Designer falls under CSOL which means I might (huge might) be eligible for the Queensland State Migration Plan.

If I try for this but fail, how else can we get the 12 months we need to have so we can file for the partner visa? We have both been married before to other people and of course are now divorced. We do love each other very very much and want to spend our lives together and marriage is in our future but we want to go at our own pace, we do not want to be forced into it with a Marriage visa. The Partner Visa is our best bet.

Right now my partner thinks I should just get a Tourist visa (subclass 676) and use it to stay with him for a year then apply for the Partner visa from within Australia. It's much more expensive applying for it from within Australia but if it works the way he hopes, it would mean we got our year together to satisfy the 12 month de facto relationship requirement for the Partner visa.

Has anyone else had to deal with this situation who did not have the 12 months and if so, how did you deal with it? Does anyone have any suggestions?