Koru lounge access should be a concession card type system, e.g. you get 12x lounge visits a year for yourself and/or guests (or something along those lines) but then the other benefits still apply.

Before any accusations of being 'elitist', I was a Koru payer for some time before flying enough to get gold and then elite. It would make sense, insomuch that I assume the vast majority of people who have Koru either paid themselves or through work aren't flying much (or they'd be able to qualify via frequent flyer status) so there wouldn't be a great deal of missing out anyway right? I feel like it has always been seen as a nice perk that many employees get from various jobs that eases the discomfort of occasional regional/national travel, and a bit of a status symbol in that sense.

If I think about when I was a koru member versus now, I was probably averaging one lounge use a month (as I'd only fly every couple of months).