It was a long battle by Sound Air (C208) to get the NZ CAA to change.
Yes, it always seemed so ridiculous that it was considered to be more safe at 500ft, quite legally across Cook Strait, in crook weather, then to be at 6,000 or more feet in a fully IFR equipped, and with GPS fitted, because you only had one engine, that was well known, with proper trend monitoring, for its reliability .