2017 in New Zealand

Population

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

• 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
• Whangarei – 57,700

  Incumbents

Regal and vice-regal

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

  Government

• 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
• 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

  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

• 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

  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

  May

• 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

  Sport

Rugby union

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

  Shooting

• Ballinger Belt –
• * Jim Bailey
• * Brian Carter, third, top New Zealander

  Deaths

January

• 7 January
• * Nick Calavrias, businessman
• * Sir Bruce Slane, public servant
• 8 January – Elspeth Kennedy, sharebroker, community leader
• 9 January
• * Michael Chamberlain, pastor, exonerated in the death of Azaria Chamberlain
• * Brown Turei, Anglican archbishop
• 10 January – Heather McPherson, poet
• 11 January – Newman Hoar, cricketer
• 23 January – Pat Downey, barrister and solicitor, Human Rights Commissioner, legal editor
• 24 January – Manu Maniapoto, rugby union player
• 26 January – Dame Laurie Salas, women's rights and peace activist

  February

• 1 February – Bernie Portenski, athlete
• 4 February – John Dickson, poet
• 8 February – Steve Sumner, association footballer
• 12 February – Sione Lauaki, rugby union player
• 13 February – Jim Watson, biotechnologist and entrepreneur
• 14 February – John Watkinson, soil chemist
• 19 February – Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe, Tongan royal

  March

• 1 March – Tania Dalton, netball player
• 3 March – Bramwell Cook, gastroenterologist
• 6 March – Dudley Storey, rower
• 12 March – Murray Ball, cartoonist
• 15 March – Phil Garland, folk musician
• 23 March – Nigel Hutchinson, film producer and commercial director
• 24 March – Roger Bradley, cricketer
• 25 March – Eric Watson, rugby union player and coach, cricketer
• 27 March
• * Shirley Annan, netball player
• * Sean Roberts, cricket

  April

• 3 April
• * Tomairangi Paki, Tainui kuia, kapa haka exponent
• * Bruce Palmer, lawyer, judge
• * Bill Tinnock, rower
• 7 April – Robin Kay, artist, historian
• 8 April – Sir Douglas Myers, businessman
• 9 April – John Clarke, satirist
• 18 April – Digby Taylor, sailor
• 19 April – Jill Amos, politician, activist
• 20 April
• * David Dougherty, wrongly convicted of rape and abduction
• * Sandy McNicol, rugby union player
• 27 April
• * Danny O'Connor, lawn bowls player
• * Alexia Pickering, disabilities rights campaigner

  May

• 2 May – Hugo Judd, diplomat
• 3 May – Doug Rollerson, rugby union and rugby league player
• 4 May
• * Rosie Scott, author
• * Beryl Te Wiata, actor, author, scriptwriter
• 6 May – Lynette McLean, lawn bowls player
• 13 May – Nicholas Tarling, historian, academic, author
• 15 May – Graeme Barrow, author
• 17 May – Kevin Stanton, musician
• 18 May – George Martin, rugby league player, field athlete
• 25 May – Earl Hagaman, hotel operator

  June

• 11 June – Lois McIvor, artist
• 15 June – Dame Ngāneko Minhinnick, Ngāti Te Ata leader
• 21 June – Oliver Jessel, businessman
• 24 June – Nick Kirk, Anglican cleric
• 25 June – David Goldsmith, field hockey player
• 26 June
• * Sir Duncan McMullin, jurist
• * Guy Ngan, artist
• 27 June – Jacinta Gray, cyclist
• 28 June – Bruce Stewart, author, playwright, marae founder
• 29 June – Marrion Roe, Olympic swimmer

  July

• 3 July – Rolf Prince, chemical engineering academic
• 5 July
• * Chris de Freitas, climatologist
• * John Karlsen, actor
• 8 July – Gay Eaton, textile artist
• 10 July – Marama Martin, radio and television personality
• 12 July – Allan Hunter, rugby union player, teacher, historian
• 15 July – Michael Cooper, economist
• 16 July – Cliff Whiting, artist, master carver, heritage advocate
• 17 July – George Hill, agronomist
• 18 July – Ian Mason, cricketer
• 23 July
• * Wenceslaus Anthony, businessman
• * Tom Lister, rugby union player

  August

• 2 August
• * Sir John Graham, rugby union player and administrator, educator
• * Paul Renton, rugby union player, farmer
• 4 August – Trevor Martin, cricket umpire
• 6 August – Tim Homer, radio personality
• 10 August – Sheila Natusch, naturalist, writer, illustrator
• 14 August – J. S. Parker, painter
• 15 August – Tui Flower, food writer
• 19 August – Alan Sayers, athlete, journalist, writer
• 20 August – Sir Colin Meads, rugby union player, coach and manager
• 22 August – Tom Pritchard, cricketer

  September

• 5 September – Cedric Hassall, chemist, academic
• 9 September – Sir Pat Goodman, businessman, philanthropist
• 11 September – Malcolm Templeton, diplomat
• 15 September – Alma Evans-Freke, television presenter
• 16 September – Andrew Leachman, master mariner
• 18 September – Tony Laffey, association footballer
• 19 September – John Nicholson, motor racing driver and engine builder
• 21 September
• * David Beatson, journalist, broadcaster
• * Vera Burt, cricketer, hockey player, coach and administrator
• 29 September
• * Annette Johnson, alpine skier
• * Ian Smith, rugby union player

  October

• 2 October – Peter Burke, rugby union player, coach and administrator
• 3 October – Norma Williams, swimmer, swimming administrator
• 12 October – Derek Steward, athlete
• 15 October – Francis Pound, art historian, curator and writer
• 19 October – Edmund Cotter, mountaineer
• 22 October – Sandy Thomas, military leader
• 23 October – Gordon Ogilvie, historian, biographer
• 29 October – Roly Green, rugby union player
• 30 October – James Beard, architect, town planner, landscape architect
• 31 October
• * Norman Hardie, mountaineer
• * Terry McCashin, rugby union player, brewer

  November

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

  December

• 7 December – Neil Ritchie, cyclist
• 12 December – Jane Galletly, television scriptwriter
• 13 December
• * Simon Dickie, rowing coxswain
• * Gerald O'Brien, MP for Island Bay from 1969 to 1978
• 15 December – Michael Hartshorn, organic chemist
• 17 December – Castletown, Thoroughbred racehorse
• 21 December – John Vear, cricketer
• 30 December – Dame Cheryll Sotheran, museum executive

  Exact date unknown

• Lyn Barnett, singer