Don't worry - I understood you, and was just using the SMC situation as an example. Your length of partnership, qualifying or not, is another situation that can change, obviously, as time passes!
There have been several couples on the forum before you who went through the same worry over not having mentioned the partner in the first place. In each case, it worked out all right when they'd told INZ what mistaken impression had led them to miss him/her out, and apologized profusely. Nobody can promise it will work for you, and it must be a worry, but hang in there, and all the best.
If it came to needing to appeal, there's a mention of it here (as not being something you may *complain* about, just pointing you in the right direction).
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...ntsprocess.htm
if you’ve been declined residence you can usually appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) within 42 days. Your appeal rights are listed in the letter declining your application for residence.
And here are all the details of the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, with links to all their forms and guides for use in different circumstances.
http://www.justice.govt.nz/tribunals...o-make-a-claim Here's very much hoping that, like the other forum members before you, you don't actually need any of this.