Yes mudski, as i have experienced first hand, black and white can soon turn into grey in QLD as well, its the old "officers interpretation" of the rules against yours, not fun pleading your case when your on the side of the road on your way to a holiday.
The problem ive experienced is, they don't actually know all the rules they are enforcing as there are so many, its quite frustrating following the rules, then being defected for what is a legal modification, i soon learnt to carry print outs of all the rules that applied to my car, trick is not to let them tell you what does not meet standards/rules, but straight away, politely explain and present all the papers one by one, you don't want to make anyone to loose face by you proving them wrong.
If you car is highly illegal, or you fail the "attitude test" miserably, then you can expect defects anyway...... but know the rules (and have written evidence) don't act like a dick, and "most" officers (Cops and DOT) ive found are decent people and can be quite reasonable.
