2017 in New Zealand explained

The following lists events that happened during 2017 in New Zealand.

Population

National

Estimated populations as at 30 June.^[1]

• New Zealand total – 4,793,700
• North Island – 3,677,200
• South Island – 1,115,800

Main urban areas

Estimated populations as at 30 June.

• Auckland – 1,534,700
• Blenheim – 31,300
• Christchurch – 396,700
• Dunedin – 120,200
• Gisborne – 36,600
• Hamilton – 235,900
• Invercargill – 50,800
• Kapiti – 42,300
• Napier-Hastings – 133,000
• Nelson – 66,700
• New Plymouth – 57,500
• Palmerston North – 85,300
• Rotorua – 58,800
• Tauranga – 137,900
• Wellington – 412,500
• Whanganui – 40,300
• Whangārei – 57,700

Incumbents

Regal and vice-regal

• Head of State – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Patsy Reddy

Government

2017 is the third and final full year of the 51st Parliament, which first sat on 21 October 2014 and was dissolved on 17 August 2017. A general election was held on 23 September to elect the 52nd Parliament.

The Fifth National Government, first elected in 2008, ends. The Sixth Labour Government begins.

• Speaker of the House – David Carter, then Trevor Mallard from 8 November
• Prime Minister – Bill English until 26 October, then Jacinda Ardern
• Deputy Prime Minister – Paula Bennett until 26 October, then Winston Peters
• Leader of the House – Gerry Brownlee until 2 May, then Simon Bridges until 26 October, then Chris Hipkins
• Minister of Finance – Steven Joyce until 26 October, then Grant Robertson
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Murray McCully until 2 May, then Gerry Brownlee until 26 October, then Winston Peters

Other party leaders

• Labour – Andrew Little until 1 August, then Jacinda Ardern (Leader of the Opposition until 26 October)
• Green – James Shaw and, until 9 August, Metiria Turei
• New Zealand First – Winston Peters
• Māori Party – Te Ururoa Flavell and Marama Fox
• ACT New Zealand – David Seymour
• United Future – Peter Dunne until 23 August, then Damian Light until 14 November (party disbanded)

Judiciary

• Chief Justice — Sian Elias

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Phil Goff
• Mayor of Tauranga – Greg Brownless
• Mayor of Hamilton – Andrew King
• Mayor of Wellington – Justin Lester
• Mayor of Christchurch – Lianne Dalziel
• Mayor of Dunedin – Dave Cull

Events

February

• 6 February – Sapphire Jubilee of Elizabeth II's accession as Queen of New Zealand
• 13 February – Fires in Hawke's Bay cause a state of emergency to be declared in Hastings.^{[2] [3]}
• 13 February to 20 April – Wild fires burn on the Port Hills of Christchurch
• 22 February – The Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial opens on the sixth anniversary of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake
• 25 February – Mount Albert by-election takes place

March

• 7 March – Jacinda Ardern is elected deputy leader of the Labour Party
• March – Pumpkin Patch is put into liquidation^[4]

April

• 6 April – A state of emergency is declared as the town of Edgecumbe is evacuated due to flooding caused by the remnants of Cyclone Debbie^[5]
• 13–14 April – Cyclone Cook, now an extratropical cyclone, moves across the North Island^[6]
• 24 April – Gerry Brownlee resigns from his portfolio of Minister for Supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration.^[7]

May

• 4 May – State of emergencies are declares in the Whanganui and Rangitikei districts in anticipation of ex tropical Cyclone Debbie.^[8]
• 25 May – The 2017 New Zealand budget is presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance, Steven Joyce^[9]

June

• 5 June – The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are announced^[10]

July

• 19–21 July – Severe flooding hits the east coast of the South Island between Christchurch and Balclutha
• 21 July – Mycoplasma bovis disease found in a South Island herd of cows

August

• 1 August – Jacinda Ardern elected leader of the Labour Party after Andrew Little resigns^[11]

September

• 23 September – The 2017 general election is held

October

• 26 October – Jacinda Ardern is sworn in as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 31 October – Trolleybuses are withdrawn from service in Wellington^[12]

December

• 4 December – The Healthy Homes Guarantee Act 2017 receives royal assent, having passed its third reading in Parliament on 29 November
• 30 December – The 2018 New Year Honours are announced^[13]

Sport

Rugby union

• 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, 3 June – 8 July

Shooting

• Ballinger Belt –
  • Jim Bailey (Australia)
  • Brian Carter (Te Puke), third, top New Zealander^[14]

Births

• 9 November – Johnny Get Angry, Thoroughbred racehorse
• 20 November – Mo'unga, Thoroughbred racehorse

Deaths

January

• 7 January
  • Nick Calavrias, businessman (born 1949)
  • Sir Bruce Slane, public servant (born 1931)
• 8 January – Elspeth Kennedy, sharebroker, community leader (born 1931)^[15]
• 9 January
  • Michael Chamberlain, pastor, exonerated in the death of Azaria Chamberlain (born 1944)
  • Brown Turei, Anglican archbishop (born 1924)
• 10 January – Heather McPherson, poet (born 1942)
• 11 January – Newman Hoar, cricketer (born 1920)
• 23 January – Pat Downey, barrister and solicitor, Human Rights Commissioner, legal editor (born 1927)
• 24 January – Manu Maniapoto, rugby union player (born 1935)
• 26 January – Dame Laurie Salas, women's rights and peace activist (born 1922)^[16]

February

• 1 February – Bernie Portenski, athlete (born 1949)
• 4 February – John Dickson, poet (born 1944)
• 8 February – Steve Sumner, association footballer (born 1955)
• 12 February – Sione Lauaki, rugby union player (born 1981)
• 13 February – Jim Watson, biotechnologist and entrepreneur (born 1943)
• 14 February – John Watkinson, soil chemist (born 1932)
• 19 February – Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe, Tongan royal (born 1926)

March

• 1 March – Tania Dalton, netball player (born 1971)
• 3 March – Bramwell Cook, gastroenterologist (born 1936)
• 6 March – Dudley Storey, rower (born 1939)
• 12 March
  • Murray Ball, cartoonist (born 1939)
  • Eunice Eichler, midwife, open adoption advocate (born 1932)
• 15 March – Phil Garland, folk musician (born 1942)
• 23 March – Nigel Hutchinson, film producer and commercial director (born 1941)
• 24 March – Roger Bradley, cricketer (born 1962)
• 25 March – Eric Watson, rugby union player and coach, cricketer (born 1925)
• 27 March
  • Shirley Annan, netball player (born 1940)
  • Sean Roberts, cricket (born 1968)

April

• 3 April
  • Tomairangi Paki, Tainui kuia, kapa haka exponent (born 1953)
  • Bruce Palmer, lawyer, judge (born 1935)
  • Bill Tinnock, rower (born 1930)
• 6 April – John Anslow, field hockey player (born 1935)
• 7 April – Robin Kay, artist, historian (born 1919)
• 8 April – Sir Douglas Myers, businessman (born 1938)
• 9 April – John Clarke, satirist (born 1948)
• 18 April – Digby Taylor, sailor (born 1941)
• 19 April – Jill Amos, politician, activist (born 1927)
• 20 April
  • David Dougherty, wrongly convicted of rape and abduction (born 1967)
  • Sandy McNicol, rugby union player (born 1944)
• 27 April
  • Danny O'Connor, lawn bowls player
  • Alexia Pickering, disabilities rights campaigner (born 1930)

May

• 2 May – Hugo Judd, diplomat (born 1939)
• 3 May – Doug Rollerson, rugby union and rugby league player (born 1953)
• 4 May
  • Rosie Scott, author (born 1948)
  • Beryl Te Wiata, actor, author, scriptwriter (born 1925)
• 6 May – Lyn McLean, lawn bowls player (born)
• 13 May – Nicholas Tarling, historian, academic, author (born 1931)
• 15 May – Graeme Barrow, author (born 1936)
• 17 May – Kevin Stanton, musician (born 1956)
• 18 May – George Martin, rugby league player, field athlete (born 1931)
• 25 May – Earl Hagaman, hotel operator (born 1925)

June

• 11 June – Lois McIvor, artist (born 1930)
• 15 June – Dame Ngāneko Minhinnick, Ngāti Te Ata leader (born 1939)
• 21 June – Oliver Jessel, businessman (born 1929)
• 24 June – Nick Kirk, Anglican cleric (born 1958)
• 25 June – David Goldsmith, field hockey player (born 1931)
• 26 June
  • Sir Duncan McMullin, jurist (born 1927)
  • Guy Ngan, artist (born 1926)
• 27 June – Jacinta Gray, cyclist (born 1974)
• 28 June – Bruce Stewart, author, playwright, marae founder (born 1936)
• 29 June – Marrion Roe, Olympic swimmer (born 1935)

July

• 3 July – Rolf Prince, chemical engineering academic (born 1928)
• 5 July
  • Chris de Freitas, climatologist (born 1948)
  • John Karlsen, actor (born 1919)
• 7 July – Frank Ryan, local-body politician (born 1932)^[17]
• 8 July – Gay Eaton, textile artist (born 1933)
• 10 July – Marama Martin, radio and television personality (born 1930)
• 12 July – Allan Hunter, rugby union player, teacher, historian (born 1922)
• 15 July – Michael Cooper, economist (born 1938)
• 16 July – Cliff Whiting, artist, master carver, heritage advocate (born 1936)
• 17 July – George Hill, agronomist (born 1938)
• 18 July – Ian Mason, cricketer (born 1942)
• 23 July
  • Wenceslaus Anthony, businessman (born 1957)
  • Tom Lister, rugby union player (born 1943)

August

• 2 August
  • Sir John Graham, rugby union player and administrator, educator (born 1935)
  • Paul Renton, rugby union player, farmer (born 1962)
• 4 August – Trevor Martin, cricket umpire (born 1925)
• 6 August – Tim Homer, radio personality (born 1973)
• 10 August
  • Dorothy Fletcher, historian (born 1927)
  • Sheila Natusch, naturalist, writer, illustrator (born 1926)
• 14 August – J. S. Parker, painter (born 1944)
• 15 August – Tui Flower, food writer (born 1925)
• 19 August – Alan Sayers, athlete, journalist, writer (born 1915)
• 20 August – Sir Colin Meads, rugby union player, coach and manager (born 1936)
• 22 August – Tom Pritchard, cricketer (born 1917)

September

• 5 September – Cedric Hassall, chemist, academic (born 1919)
• 9 September – Sir Pat Goodman, businessman, philanthropist (born 1929)
• 11 September – Malcolm Templeton, diplomat (born 1924)
• 15 September – Alma Evans-Freke, television presenter (born 1931)
• 16 September – Andrew Leachman, master mariner (born 1945)
• 18 September – Tony Laffey, association footballer (born 1925)
• 19 September – John Nicholson, motor racing driver and engine builder (born 1941)
• 21 September
  • David Beatson, journalist, broadcaster (born 1944)
  • Vera Burt, cricketer, hockey player, coach and administrator (born 1927)
• 26 September – Wanda Cowley, children's writer (born 1924)
• 29 September
  • Annette Johnson, alpine skier (born 1928)
  • Ian Smith, rugby union player (born 1941)

October

• 2 October – Peter Burke, rugby union player, coach and administrator (born 1927)
• 3 October – Norma Williams, swimmer, swimming administrator (born 1928)
• 12 October – Derek Steward, athlete (born 1928)
• 15 October – Francis Pound, art historian, curator and writer (born 1948)
• 19 October – Edmund Cotter, mountaineer (born 1927)
• 21 October – Dave Leech, hammer thrower (born 1927)
• 22 October – Sandy Thomas, military leader (born 1919)
• 23 October – Gordon Ogilvie, historian, biographer (born 1934)
• 29 October – Roly Green, rugby union player (born 1927)
• 30 October – James Beard, architect, town planner, landscape architect (born 1924)
• 31 October
  • Norman Hardie, mountaineer (born 1924)
  • Terry McCashin, rugby union player, brewer (born 1944)

November

• 5 November – Geoff Rothwell, World War II bomber pilot (born 1920)
• 6 November – Clem Parker, athlete (born 1926)
• 7 November – Paddles, cat owned by Jacinda Ardern
• 9 November – Tom Coughlan, rugby union player (born 1934)
• 15 November
  • Dame Sister Pauline Engel, educator (born 1930)
  • Moana Manley, swimmer, beauty pageant contestant (born 1935)
  • Bert Ormond, association footballer (born 1931)

December

• 7 December – Neil Ritchie, cyclist (born 1933)
• 12 December – Jane Galletly, television scriptwriter (born 1928)
• 13 December
  • Simon Dickie, rowing coxswain (born 1951)
  • Gerald O'Brien, MP for Island Bay from 1969 to 1978 (born 1924)
• 15 December – Michael Hartshorn, organic chemist (born 1936)
• 17 December – Castletown, Thoroughbred racehorse (foaled 1986)
• 21 December – John Vear, cricketer (born 1938)
• 30 December – Dame Cheryll Sotheran, museum executive (born 1945)

Exact date unknown

• Lyn Barnett, singer

Notes and References

1. Web site: Subnational Population Estimates: At 30 June 2016 (provisional) . 21 October 2016 . . 21 October 2016. For urban areas, Web site: Subnational population estimates (UA, AU), by age and sex, at 30 June 1996, 2001, 2006–16 (2017 boundary) . 21 October 2016 . . 21 October 2016.
2. Web site: Declared States of Emergency . 23 April 2024 . www.civildefence.govt.nz . en.
3. Web site: 13 February 2017 . Houses destroyed as large fires blaze across Hawke's Bay . 23 April 2024 . RNZ . en-nz.
4. Web site: Winter . Chloe . 9 March 2017 . Pumpkin Patch put into liquidation after failure to find buyer . 19 September 2023 . Stuff . en.
5. News: Bilby . Lynley . Stopping flooding is just the beginning following ex-cyclone Debbie's wrath, says Whakatane District mayor . New Zealand Herald . 7 April 2017 . 1 February 2020.
6. MetService . 2018 . Review of the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 Cyclone Seasons by TCWC Wellington . RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee for the South Pacific and South-East Indian Ocean Seventeenth Session . http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/RAV_TCC-17.html . World Meteorological Organisation . https://web.archive.org/web/20180723004007/http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/Documents/RAV_TCC-17_DOC4.1.2_TCWC-Wellington.pdf . 23 July 2018. 22 July 2018. 2. live.
7. Web site: 24 April 2017 . Brownlee bows out of Christchurch rebuild . 7 June 2024 . RNZ . en-nz.
8. Web site: Declared States of Emergency . 23 April 2024 . www.civildefence.govt.nz . en.
9. Web site: Budget 2017 . 13 February 2018 . New Zealand Government . 1 February 2020.
10. Web site: Queen's Birthday honours list 2017 . 5 June 2017 . Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet . 1 February 2020.
11. Web site: Andrew Little resigns as leader of the Labour party. 1 August 2017. Radionz.co.nz. 13 December 2017.
12. News: Wellington's electric trolley bus wires to start coming down in a week . 3 October 2017 . Stuff.co.nz . 1 February 2020 . Damian . George.
13. Web site: New Year honours list 2018 . 30 December 2017 . Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet . 1 February 2020.
14. Web site: Ballinger Belt . National Rifle Association of New Zealand . 22 February 2017.
15. News: Nelson business pioneer Elspeth Kennedy leaves legacy . 12 January 2017 . Stuff.co.nz . 12 January 2017 . Samantha . Gee.
16. News: Dame Laurie Salas death notice. 29 January 2017. The Press. 29 January 2017.
17. News: Frank Ryan, long-time Auckland mayor and father of Lucy Lawless, dies . 9 July 2017 . . 20 April 2023.