Charter Boats and Autopilots

[oregonsailor]

We are planning to charter (bareboat) a monohull sailboat in the Whitsundays and were well down the road on the project when I noticed that the boat descriptions on our charter company's website made no mention of autopilots. Upon inquiry, I was told that none of their charter boats had autopilots and it appears that this is the result of some rule that prohibits chartering boats with autopilots.

We have only chartered in the San Juans where, I expect, it would not be possible to charter a boat without an autopilot.

Has anyone heard of such a rule in Australia (or elsewhere?)