I am in the exact same boat, I have missed 6 figure employment opportunity for the same reason. Please message me and explore if there is any legislation or standard that we may apply to expedite the process or potentially recoup our loss of income.
I see no applicaion of the APS value - ICARE - Impartial, Committed to service, Accountable, Respectful, Ethical. I doubt if they demonstrate them as committed to service and accountable base on the length of processing time starting from this year. It used to take less than 2 months back in 2016 for those that expedite with the special form, which I too had filled in.
I have been waiting for 13 months since I apply and 7 months since I sat the exam, I had clearly asked them that I'll have my citizenship ceremony at the DIBP office. Their updates on the website is obviously not a committed timeframe and they just keep lengthening over time, literally moving the goal post when they fail to deliver. Where is the "ICARE"?