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2008 in New Zealand:

Other years in New Zealand

2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011

Contents 1 Incumbents 1.1 Regal and Vice Regal 1.2 Government 1.3 Other Party Leaders 1.4 Main centre leaders 2 Events 2.1 Holidays and Observances 3 Arts and literature 3.1 New Books 3.2 Awards 3.3 Music 3.4 Television 3.5 Film 3.6 Internet 4 Sport 4.1 Cricket 4.2 Netball 4.3 Motorsport 4.4 Olympic Games 4.5 Rugby league 4.6 Rugby union 4.7 Rowing 4.8 Soccer 4.9 Tennis 5 Births 6 Deaths 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Incumbents

[edit] Regal and Vice Regal

• Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand
• Governor-General - The Hon. Anand Satyanand, PCNZM, QSO^[1]

[edit] Government

The 48th New Zealand Parliament continued until the general election in November. The government was a Labour-Progressive coalition with supply and confidence from United Future and New Zealand First in exchange for two ministerial spots outside Cabinet.

• Speaker of the House - Margaret Wilson (Labour) since 3 March 2005
• Prime Minister - Helen Clark (Labour) since 5 December 1999
• Deputy Prime Minister - Michael Cullen (Labour) since 15 August 2002
• Minister of Finance - Michael Cullen (Labour) since 5 December 1999

Non-Labour Ministers

• Minister of Foreign Affairs - Winston Peters (NZ First) since October 2005
• Jim Anderton (Progressives) - Minister of Agriculture (within Cabinet)
• Peter Dunne (United Future)- Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Health (outside Cabinet)

The 49th New Zealand Parliament was formed after the general election, with the National Party governing with confidence and supply agreements with the ACT, Māori and United Future parties.

• Speaker of the House - Lockwood Smith
• Prime Minister - John Key (National) since 19 November 2008
• Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance - Bill English (National) since 19 November 2008

[edit] Other Party Leaders

• National - John Key (Leader of the Opposition) since 27 November 2006
• Act - Rodney Hide, since 13 June 2004
• Greens - Jeanette Fitzsimons (since 1995) and Russel Norman (since 2006)
• Māori Party - Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples, both since 7 July 2004

[edit] Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland - John Banks, since October 2007
• Mayor of Hamilton - Bob Simcock, since May 2007
• Mayor of Wellington - Kerry Prendergast, since October 2001
• Mayor of Christchurch - Bob Parker, since October 2007
• Mayor of Dunedin - Peter Chin, since October 2004

[edit] Events

• 22 January: State funeral for Sir Edmund Hillary
• 5 June: A newly redesigned flag for the Governor General of New Zealand is flown for the first time at Government House, Auckland. ^[2]
• 1 July: Rail transport network is renationalised as KiwiRail
• 1 August: Crown entities Land Transport New Zealand and Transit New Zealand merge to form the NZ Transport Agency
• 16 August: Dunedin Public Hospital is put in lockdown for a week after approximately 170 staff and patients fall ill to a norovirus outbreak, resulting in 2,300 appointments and procedures being delayed.^[3]
• 5 September: Fonterra advise Prime Minister Helen Clark of the 2008 baby milk scandal.^[4]
• 8 November: John Key and the New Zealand National Party win the General Election. John Key is able to form a Government and in Helen Clark's speech she resigns as leader of the New Zealand Labour Party
• 9 November: Michael Cullen resigns as deputly leader of the Labour Party. ^[5]
• 19 November: John Key is sworn in as Prime Minister
• 27 November: 2008 Air New Zealand A320 test flight crash. Air New Zealand A320 Airbus crashes into the Mediterranean during a test flight, killing five New Zealand and two German air crew.^[6]

[edit] Holidays and Observances

• 6 February - Waitangi Day (Wednesday)
• 21 March/24 March Good Friday/Easter Monday
• 25 April - ANZAC Day (Friday)
• 2 June - Queen's Birthday Monday
• 5 June - Matariki (Thursday)
• 27 October - Labour Day Monday

[edit] Arts and literature

[edit] New Books

[edit] Awards

[edit] Music

• May - New Zealand Music Month

[edit] Television

• Freeview|HD Digital television is launched.

• The country's first Chinese television channel, CTV8 (Chinese Television 8) is launched in early October.

[edit] Film

[edit] Internet

[edit] Sport

[edit] Cricket

• New Zealand men's cricket team, the Black Caps plays three test matches against England and draws the series, each team having won a game

[edit] Netball

• The ANZ Netball Championship begins in April 2008.

[edit] Motorsport

[edit] Olympic Games

Main article: New Zealand at the 2008 Summer Olympics

[edit] Rugby league

[edit] Rugby union

[edit] Rowing

[edit] Soccer

• 30 October-16 November — New Zealand hosts the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Matches are held in Albany, Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington.

[edit] Tennis

[edit] Births

[edit] Deaths

• 1 January: Joan Dingley, mycologist
• 4 January: Bert Walker, former National Party politician, minister.
• 10 January: George Laking, diplomat and public servant.^[7]
• 11 January: Sir Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and first person to climb Mount Everest.^[8]
• 16 January: Hone Tuwhare, poet.^[9]
• 12 February: Ron Chippindale, Chief Inspector of Accidents^[10]
• 19 February: Barry Barclay, Māori film-maker^[11]
• 21 March: Merv Wallace, cricketer and test match captain.^[12]
• 6 April: Tony Davies, All Blacks rugby union player^[13]
• 11 April: Fraser Colman, former Labour Party politician, minister.
• 12 April: Dame Augusta Wallace, former judge, first woman District Court judge.^[14]
• 5 June: Colin Kay, Mayor of Auckland and New Zealand triple jump champion.^[15]
• 25 August: Hardwicke Knight, Otago historian. ^[16]
• 7 September: Sir Hamish Hay, Mayor of Christchurch from 1974 to 1989.^[17]
• 8 September: A. R. Guthrey, Mayor of Christchurch from 1968 to 1971.^[18]
• 13 September: Duncan Laing, swimming coach, trainer of 11 Olympic athletes.^[19]
• 13 September: Sue Garden-Bachop, women's rugby international player and administrator.^[20]
• 25 September: Brian Donnelly, politician and diplomat.^[21]
• 2 October: Rob Guest, actor and singer.^[22]
• 29 October: John Darwin, mathematician and statistician
• 8 November: Hedley Howarth, Test cricketer.^[23]
• 27 November: Mike Minogue, Hamilton ex-Mayor and MP
• 13 December" John Drake, All Black.^[24]

[edit] 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 2008 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 2008

[edit] References