Just FYI in case anyone else is interested

I just noticed the DNC have a consultation out proposing a change to the conflicted name process for the .nz TLD: https://www.dnc.org.nz/conflicted-names

I'm definitely in favour of this as currently my surname.nz is conflicted, however 1 party (out of 3, including me) has refused to lodge a preference meaning it's currently conflicted. With the proposed change they would have 12 months to lodge a preference, if they don't then the domain will become available to me. Thankfully the owner of the other conflicted domain has lodged a preference that he doesn't want it.

The other change is that if no one lodges a preference for a conflicted domain within 12 months then it becomes available on a first come first served basis.