1997 in New Zealand.html



1997 in New Zealand:

Other years in New Zealand

1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000

Incumbents

Regal and Vice Regal

• Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand
• Governor-General - The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO¹

Government

The 45th New Zealand Parliament continued. Government was The National Party, led by Jim Bolger, in coalition with New Zealand First, led by Winston Peters.

• Speaker of the House - Doug Kidd
• Prime Minister - Jim Bolger then Jenny Shipley
• Deputy Prime Minister - Winston Peters
• Minister of Finance - Bill Birch
• Minister of Foreign Affairs - Don McKinnon

Parliamentary Leaders

• Labour - (37 seats) Helen Clark (Leader of the Opposition)
• Alliance - (13 seats) Jim Anderton
• ACT New Zealand - (8 seats) Richard Prebble
• United New Zealand- (1 seat) Peter Dunne

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland - Les Mills
• Mayor of Hamilton - Margaret Evans
• Mayor of Wellington - Mark Blumsky
• Mayor of Christchurch - Vicki Buck
• Mayor of Dunedin - Sukhi Turner

Events

• 8 February: Stephen Anderson, 24, shoots 11 people, killing 6 of them (including his wife and parents) at Raurimu².
• 16 July: List MP Alamein Kopu resigns from the Alliance Party but remains a member of parliament. This causes controversy because Kopu has signed contracts with the party that she would resign from Parliament should she leave the party. ³
• 10 September: Parliament's privileges committee finds that Alamein Kopu is entitled to remain an independent MP.

Arts and literature

• Paddy Richardson wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.
• Montana New Zealand Book Awards:
  • Book of the Year/Cultural Heritage: Jessie Munro, The Story of Suzanne Aubert
  • First Book Awards
    • Fiction: Dominic Sheehan, Finding Home
    • Poetry: Diane Brow, Before the Divorce We Go To Disneyland
    • Non-Fiction: Jessie Munro, The Story of Suzanne Aubert

See 1997 in art, 1997 in literature, Category:1997 books

Music

See: 1997 in music

Radio and Television

• CanWest takes complete ownership of TV3 and launches TV4.
• TVNZ broadcasts MTV.
• July: Prime Television in Australia purchases 34 licences covering all major New Zealand centres.

See: 1997 in New Zealand television, 1997 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Category:New Zealand television, TV3 (New Zealand), Category:New Zealand television shows, Public broadcasting in New Zealand

Film

• Lost Valley
• Topless Women Talk About Their Lives

See: Category:1997 film awards, 1997 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1997 films

Internet

See: NZ Internet History

Appointments and awards

See: New Zealand Order of Merit , Order of New Zealand

• Archbishop of New Zealand
• Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia , see appointments to Diocese

Sport

Athletics

• Peter Buske wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:20:49 on March 8 in New Plymouth, while Terri-Lee Farr claims her first in the women's championship (2:55:20).

Basketball

• The Men's NBL was won by the Auckland Stars
• Tall Blacks

Cricket

• Various Tours, New Zealand cricket team

Golf

• New Zealand Open won by Greg Turner

Horse racing

• See Category:Horse racing in New Zealand, list winners.

Netball

• Silver Ferns
• National Bank Cup

Rugby league

• The Auckland Warriors competed in the breakaway Super League and finished 7th of 10 teams.
• Bartercard Cup
• New Zealand national rugby league team

Rugby Union

• Super 12
• Rugby Union World Cup
• National Provincial Championship
• Bledisloe Cup
• Tri Nations Series
• Ranfurly Shield

Soccer

• New Zealand National Soccer League
• New Zealand national soccer team
• Chatham Cup

• See Also: 1997 in sports , Category:1997 in sports

Births

Category:1997 births

Deaths

• 2 January: Keith Hay, construction company founder, mayor of Mt Roskill, conservative activist
• 10 April: Sir Robert Aitken, physician and university administrator
• 6 July: Frank 'Brun' Smith, cricketer
• 25 July: Matiu Rata, politician ⁴
• 8 October: Desmond J. Scott, fighter pilot ⁵

Undated

• Bruce Beetham, politician
• Eva Rickard, Māori leader and activist

Category:1997 deaths

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ CNN report on Raurimu massacre
3. ^ Privileges committee report on the Kopu case
4. ^ Obituary
5. ^ NZ fighter museum

See also

• List of years in New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• History of New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of environmental history of New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica

For world events and topics in 1997 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 1997