.kiwi.nz, proposed new unmoderated 2ld

Donald Clark, one of the InternetNZ councillors, but acting in his private capacity, has formally requested the creation of the second level domain name .kiwi.nz.
Back in March I wrote the following to InternetNZ.

"Under the current InternetNZ policy any suitable long lived community of interest can request a second level domain name be created.

""Kiwi" is a recognised informal demonym for New Zealanders and to a lesser extent New Zealand businesses and has been such for over 50 years with no sign that it is likely to diminish in that use in the foreseeable future.

".kiwi.nz could be promoted as a suitable URL for proud New Zealanders to establish a personal web presence or email address showing their connection to New Zealand (equivalent to .me.uk or .id.au ) without subjecting themselves to foreign legal systems.

"The relevant relevant portion of policy includes:

The criteria for a new 2LD are that the 2LD:
5.4.1 Represents an identifiable, significant community of interest; where:
(a) 'significant' can mean either quantitatively or qualitatively; and
(b) the community of interest can be defined in a clear written statement.

5.4.2 Represents an on-going and long-lived community of interest.

5.4.3 Does not conflict with, duplicate or cause confusion about, any existing 2LD, and is a useful addition to the current DNS hierarchy.
5.4.4 Uses a name to represent the domain that is an obvious derivative of a word that properly describes the community of interest, e.g. .org.nz for organisation, or a complete word, e.g. .māori.nz.
5.4.5 Does not bring the .nz domain name space into disrepute.

I believe that the proposal for .kiwi.nz fully meets these criteria.

As it applies to New Zealand society as a whole, it seems that the ideal body to sponsor this proposal would be either The Crown or InternetNZ itself as a public good for the New Zealand Internet Community and would like to request InternetNZ council to start the process."

Today I spotted that DNC notified on the 20th of April that Donald Clark, one of the InternetNZ councillors, but acting in his private capacity, has formally requested the creation of the second level domain name .kiwi.nz.

This proposal is open for comment until 29 May 2012. Full information on the proposal and comments as they are received at "Application for a new 2LD - .kiwi.nz"

How much impact and reach would this have? It's hard to look into the future, but comparing us to the two countries we feel most alike and looking at the published statistics for  .me.uk (Nominet) and .id.au (AusRegistry)  I'm picking that after an initial period, new .kiwi.nz registrations would average around 1% of total .nz registrations. I also think these are likely to be in addition to .co.nz registrations, basically second chance registrations for people who have missed the .co.nz for their names.

Given that Kiwi is a popular demonym for New Zealand people, it's possible that .kiwi.nz would have a higher uptake.