It seems that the Instructors have been "guided" by the CAAP.....
4.4 To be a successful collaboration, the person undergoing the
review and the assessor have a shared responsibility. This
responsibility requires an honest statement of the flying activities
that have been undertaken over the past two years, and more
importantly an indication of what type of flying the pilot
anticipates performing during the next two years. CASA
recommends the inclusion of a navigation exercise in each flight
review. In determining whether to conduct a navigation exercise
the assessor should take into account if the previous flight review
included a navigation exercise.
The assessor should then plan an appropriate flight review for the
pilot’s prevailing circumstances, and be willing to commit time and
effort to identify deficiencies in skills and knowledge, and then to
provide remedial instruction and advice as required.
Most of the pilots I know who have done an AFR recently have done a short cross country as described in my earlier post.
I think CASA have been pushing the issue at CFI seminars.
Cheers