In typical Air NZ fashion, it is a nothing sandwich,
The aligning of qualification and effective dates just makes sense.

No ability for non Kiwi residents to earn SPs in a different way or a lower threshold such as Air Canada's Chase Card for non Canadians.
No Shairpoints for non-residents.

Having flown my family of seven back and forth to NZ on NZ since youngest was born 18 years ago and oldest 22 years ago annually, with many in between trips for smaller numbers, last week I spent C$32,000 on AC instead of NZ for our Xmas trip. This sum is insignificant to Air NZ, but when enough of us do it, it adds up.
I fly to NZ at least four times a year now and more of those will on AC as opposed to NZ.

Kate O'Brien is the queen of platitudes and obfuscation.
Having had several emails back and forth with her, it is like asking Chippy for straight answers about Bellis being more welcomed by the Taliban than her own government, no answer.