I admit that there are a lot of words that NZ accents say incorrectly - butter should not be said 'bud-duhh' for example, despite that being how I often say it. But that doesn't change the fact that I know how it should be said. Butter. Likewise, hear, hair, here and hare should all be said the same. Accents change a lot, but technically, the words are the same and are therefore a homophone.