Hi mate,
I got some inside of this. Based on MIA udpates, Department of Home Affair have two group of staffs dealing the old applications ( they didnt define "old"), also they set up a specialist group dealing with new appliacations. beside those changes, their proority is prcess the applicaitons are decision ready or low risk. So far, there still are 30,000 186 applicaitons in the queue. I hope this help.
Cheers,
Carter