Your point of an agent’s competency sounds reasonable.
Unfortunately, I do not think your definition of “competency” or mine or for that matter, Jimmy’s is key.
For an allegation to have legs, what is key is whether an agent has breached the terms of his/her license and/or the condition(s) of the Act(s) under which he/she operates.
Some months ago I sought mediation against an agent as I felt the strata agent was breaching the Act under which his conduct is governed. I think it is the Stock & Stations Act. I alleged he was not acting “honestly”. The Act requires such behaviour.
My application was rejected by “Strata Mediation” (hence it never got aired in Mediation let alone getting anywhere near NCAT) because strata mediation said that in my situation “the agent merely did as he was told by those who run the committee and if there is any blame to go around, he is not liable”.
In my experience – for what it’s worth – for blame to be assigned to an agent he/she must be breaching an Act in a manner other than acting at the behest of or under the instructions of the strata committee or OC. That is to say, an alleged breach by an agent when acting as he is instructed would seem to absolve the agent of liability. The liability if it exists, lies at the feet of the OC. This would require an application (by you) for Mediation against the OC or against the Strata Committee or against the Strata Committee members (personally).
A separate issue you raise – which I believe has merit – is whether you consider the agent’s legislated seemingly “get out of jail free” card to be a slap in the face to lot owners and that the relevant act(s) regulating an agent’s conduct be renovated by holding an agent to a far, far higher standard, with significant penalties to be imposed for breaches.