Yes, it is in fact disappointing that the sloppy brickwork has become the norm here in WA. The bricklayers will pay attention to the outside wall, ie. visible without plaster, anything that will be plastered up is showing holes/gaps. It is not hard to butter up the perpend joints but it is faster laying the brick and saving on mortar without it. As I mentioned above, brick company has a document saying the perpend joints of fast wall don't have to be filled. However, when I talk to engineers, they say that it is not what AS3700/AS4773 recommends. My friend is an engineer, who builds bridge but has knowledge in houses, confirms it for me. That says I suspect any non-filled perpends will pass the inspection if it is less than 10mm (unfortunately). No, they don't come back and grout it. The gap is left intentionally according to my SS because they know that's said on the brick company technical specification sheet.
The third photo looks exactly like our wardrobe. The mortar is very crumbly. I don't know why that's OK. We will be doing a lot of nailing for the shelves later on.
The brickwork on your last photo certainly won't pass the inspection. While i ain't expert, I have seen examples of inspection report. We will be hiring one just to put our mind at ease. We narrowed down to one company but too bad that they don't split brickwork/plate height and roof work. It looks like we have to go with a different company.