The Canterbury duo became just the second Kiwi pair to win the title, following Bourne himself and co-driver Craig Vincent, who won the title five times together.
Paddon and co-driver Kennard had won four of the five rounds leading into the weekend's final two-day rally in Tasmania with an 85-point lead.
A 12th-placed finish would have been enough to clinch the title, but the duo finished third over the 16-stage race.
They finished Saturday's first eight stages in second, 7.4 seconds behind leaders Harry Bates and Coral Taylor.
However, Sunday's stages proved more challenging.
However, they kept cool and executed to wrap up the overall title.
"We’re really happy to get the result over the line," Paddon said.
"There was a lot of pressure this weekend just to finish. Performance wasn’t really an aspect we needed to push for and it’s always a bit more nerve wracking when it’s like that. Things that can happen that are outside your control, which almost did happen with a broken damper this afternoon and losing a bit of time as we nursed the car home. In the end, we got home in P3 which, in some ways, is almost irrelevant.
"It’s great to bring home the result and win the championship. It’s great to do this for the whole team. Everyone’s put in a lot of work this year.
"To put our name alongside our hero Possum Bourne feels somewhat surreal. It’s very, very cool, and something the whole team can be very proud of, especially being on the road and travelling around Australia and doing it all on what’s pretty much a shoestring budget.
"We’ve really loved our time here in the Australian Championship: the comradery, how we’ve been welcomed, the competition levels have been really, really great. We’ve loved it, and this is a great way to finish off the season."
- Allied Media
