I have now received a reply from the parent visa centre.
It takes approximately 18 months from the date of lodgement of your contributory Parent subclass 173 to be allocated to a Case Officer. Once a Case Officer has been allocated, they will contact the Authorised Recipient in writing requesting further information. We are currently processing visa applications for subclass 173 that were submitted on 11 June 2012.The electronic queue date calculator does not apply to Parent subclass 173. Your parent visa application has not been allocated yet.So, for everybody waiting, looks like we continue being patient ! Frustrating!