In my personal opinion, I think we need to be prepared for INZ being much more thorough in their labour market tests and requesting much more comprehensive evidence of employer's efforts to recruit or train New Zealanders first. I'm afraid that this may also apply to applications already lodged but not yet processed and decided. While it's correct that the instructions that were in place at the time of lodgement are to be applied at assessment of an application, there's no need for instructions to change before CO's may start asking for much more evidence and information in line with the current instructions for work visas. While the instructions may remain the same, it's highly likely that INZ's interpretation of whether there are suitable NZer's who can take up the work or be trained to do the work is going to change. A lot more emphasis is likely to be put on the part of instructions which refers to the fact that NZer's not being prepared to do the work on offer being irrelevant in a CO's assessment.
There will always be roles that employers are just not able to fill within the domestic labour market and we will always have a need for migrants - but I think we all need to be realistic in our expectations of INZ's assessments in response to the changed labour market and I believe the reality will be that the bar is going to be raised higher for employers being expected to consider NZer's for jobs first.