Section 71 – the SM sounds like a bit of a nong. Section 71 is clear, you don’t mix the sinking and admin funds. It is not industry practice.
You could say to a magistrate oh well I know I was driving over the limit, but lots of people do it, so it must be ok.
If a scheme is regularly breaching section 71 it would be a factor you could raise in any application regarding failure to manage a scheme. One consideration is it indicates the scheme is failing to budget properly. Admin costs are fairly static so it is a simple exercise to estimate required funds for a year.
Agency agreement – usually agreements will have a rollover clause which provides something along the lines of it continuing unless the OC terminates it once the initial term has expired. There are a number of ways it can continue, e.g. for another term of three years, then successive three year periods. Have you checked the specific terms of the original agreement?