I actually had the opposite reaction to Spinks as well. He showed all the right gestures, and conceded a few points with an affirmative reaction or a nod of the head, but if you listen closely, everything was carefully couched in terms and words that obfuscated. He said on several occasions that he could go only as far as the Bible would let him. Well, who exactly determines the interpretation and correct application of scripture for all JWs, including the Branch? The Governing Body. It's that crazy brand of JW circular reasoning at its best. So Bro. Spinks is left with the choice to either 1) align his conscience to the correct way of thinking which involves having a bible-trained conscience as interpreted by the GB, or 2) going rogue and ultimately suffer the Ray Franz fate (branded an apostate and disfellowshipped), or be "re-assigned".
Ultimately, these guys are all pawns and pieces on a chessboard with one goal - protect the King (the GB as a group). As one caveat, even an individual GB member can be relegated to pawn status if he dares step out of line and becomes a threat to the GB or their sworn god, the WT org. The elders who were first rolled out first in this whole thing are the lowly and over-matched pawns in all of this. The Spinks guy is a little higher up the chain, a lot more slippery, and closer to the King. He was able to put his words together a little bit better, thus probably why he has made it up the chain as far as he has to the elevated and lofty Branch level. But make no mistake, behind all the smiles and shows of humility he is still ultimately just a Yes man there to protect the King, and to fall on his sword if need be just like everybody else. If he (The Australian Branch) is told he has to comply with notifying the authorities in all cases, then he will probably immediately do that because WT has already acquiesced on that front and given him the go-ahead. However, if the authorities tell him that they have to abandon the 2 witness rule, you had better believe he will need HQ (GB and Legal from NY) approval to even sniff at agreeing to that. And then you have the other powerful and increasingly influential piece on the board, the queen (WT Legal). All of these guys will do whatever they have to protect the WT, which coincidentally involves protecting the King (GB) from outsiders, and even himself.