A good friend of mine went through the interview process early 2010. He was told in March of last year that he could go to JNZ straight away or stay on the hold file for Australia.
That was 12 months ago. He recently started somewhere else but intends showing J the same respect shown to him, ie. on the very unlikely chance they give him a start date in late 2017, he will string them along as long as he can to have them convinced he will be there on day 1.
I recently sat next to someone very high up and in the know at J on a flight - obviously can't hint too much who they were.
They assured me the an Australian "hold file" DOES NOT EXIST.
They simply tell people this hoping they will eventually get sick of waiting for a start and decide to grab their ankles on the NZ conditions. Or people just give up and go away.
Either way, J couldn't give a rats as the aspiring applicant has paid for the priviledge of being interviewed so it is them who has wasted their money not J.