And you must have a lot of time on your hands.
It
is my job.
Do you scrutinise every approach plate as well?
What do you reckon? Of course not. Why on earth would I need to do that? And as you are, I assume, well aware, changes are published on each approach chart so one doesn't have to "scrutinise each approach chart", except of course when briefing the approach.
I have said this before but will say it again: the fact that nobody was told about this change does tend to suggest that the author had in mind only an innocent little terminology change - not a change to the procedure.
Conspiracy theory only.
Take Perth, for example. Nowhere near as bad as Cairns or Townsville, terrain-wise, but from discussions with an approach controller there, I found that they have a "local" procedure whereby they don't issue them outside 10 NM.
Rubbish. We regularly get a VA when assigned 2500ft outside 10nm. As the rules say, they CANNOT issue a VA UNTIL they assign the last minimum terrain altitude. It's not a matter of waiting for 10nm.
As Renurpp asked earlier, it would be helpful to know what airport the original poster was at when he posed his question.