[talk-au] FYI I removed a whole bunch on nodes where ways existed for the same object.

[Andrew Harvey]

Ross, some more sources which recommend not having the node and the area.

"One feature, one OSM-object
Don't place nodes in (equally labelled) areas just to see some icon
appear on the map. The renderers will display icons on areas as well
and there's no need to have every parking-lot, soccer-ground etc.
twice in the database. "
Source:http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Good_practice#One_feature.2C_one_OSM-object

Although this only mentions the "just to see some icon appear on the
map" justification that you mentioned, if there is some other reason
why not to delete these nodes please let me know.