2017 in New Zealand

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

National
Estimated populations as at 30 June.
 * 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

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

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.
 * 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

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
 * 13–14 April – Cyclone Cook, now an extratropical cyclone, moves across the North Island
 * 24 April – Gerry Brownlee resigns from his portfolio of Minister for Supporting Greater Christchurch Regeneration.

May

 * 4 May – State of emergencies are declares in the Whanganui and Rangitikei districts in anticipation of ex tropical Cyclone Debbie.


 * 25 May – The 2017 New Zealand budget is presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance, Steven Joyce

June

 * 5 June – The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are announced

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

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

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

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

Births

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

January

 * 7 January
 * Nick Calavrias, businessman (born 1949)
 * Sir Bruce Slane, public servant (born 1931)
 * 8 January – Elspeth Kennedy, sharebroker, community leader (born 1931)
 * 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)

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 c. 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 c. 1945)
 * 13 May – Nicholas Tarling, historian, academic, author (born 1931)
 * 15 May – Graeme Barrow, author (born 1936)
 * 17 May – Kevin Stanton, musician (born c. 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 c. 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)
 * 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 c. 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