I like this idea because I/some of us can benefit from this. However, I think it is not possible.
This idea is beyond what INZ/government want to do or need to do. There is no any strong reasons, benefits, no strong request (from wider community) for them to do so. They have already started speeding up the existing applications, however a delay is a delay. It is not like airline company if our flight is delayed they would take care of us and reduce delay as much as they can.
They possibly also think if you are residing in NZ and have true intention to stay here for long, it is only matter of time for most of us to get PR. They have allowed us to live here as a resident and we have no reason to show that we "must" get PR ASAP to stay here.
Say if there are 10,000 applicants who have waited for 16+months, this is not a significant number I afraid for them to step into this challenge anyway. In fact, many of us would probably be satisfied enough and sit quite once we get RV, meaning that PR is not urgently needed for many of us.