1996 in New Zealand

Population

* Estimated Population as of 31 December: 3,762,300 http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/24107FC8-E7B5-4CF2-B17C-15E31CCA7D05/0/HistoricalPop.xls]
* Increase since 31/12/1995: 55,600 (1.50%)
* Males per 100 Females: 97.3

Incumbents

Regal and Vice Regal

*Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II
*Governor-General - The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO [ [http://www.gg.govt.nz/gg/former.htm] ]

Government

The 44th New Zealand Parliament continued. Government was The National Party, led by Jim Bolger. In the New Zealand general election 1996 National was returned to power, but had to form a coalition with the New Zealand First.

*Speaker of the House - Peter Tapsell then Doug Kidd
*Prime Minister - Jim Bolger
*Deputy Prime Minister - Don McKinnon then Winston Peters
*Minister of Finance - Bill Birch
*Minister of Foreign Affairs - Don McKinnon

Opposition Leaders

See: ,

*Greens - Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald
*Act - TBD
*New Zealand First - TBD
*United Future - TBD
*Māori Party - TBD
*Labour - TBD (Leader of the Opposition)
*Progressives - TBD
*United Future - TBD

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

* April: "The New Zealand Tablet" winds up. The weekly Catholic newspaper started publication in 1873. [cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=CL1.NZT&essay=1|title=New Zealand Tablet|publisher=National Library of New Zealand]

Arts and literature

*Bernadette Hall wins the Robert Burns Fellowship.
*Montana New Zealand Book Awards:
**Book of the Year/Cultural Heritage: Judith Binney, "Redemption Songs - A Life of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki"
**First Book Awards
***Fiction: Emily Perkins, "Not Her Real Name"
***Poetry: James Brown, "Go Round Power Please"
***Non-Fiction: Alex Frame, "Salmond: Southern Jurist"

See 1996 in art, 1996 in literature,

Music

See: 1996 in music

Radio and Television

See: 1996 in New Zealand television, 1996 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, , TV3 (New Zealand), , Public broadcasting in New Zealand

* The New Zealand Government sells the Radio New Zealand commerical arm to Clear Channel creating The Radio Network

Film

*"Broken English"
*"Chicken"
*"Jack Brown Genius"
*"Flight of the Albatross"
*"Someone Else's Country"
*"The Frighteners"
*"The Whole of the Moon"

See: , 1996 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand,

Internet

See: [http://www.wlug.org.nz/NewZealandInternetHistory 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

port

* See: 1996 in sports , , Summer Olympic Games (See

Athletics

*Phil Costley wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:20:32 on October 27 in Auckland, while Tracey Clissold claims her first in the women's championship (2:39:03).

Basketball

* The NBL was won by Auckland.

Cricket

Various Tours, New Zealand cricket team , Chappell-Hadlee Trophy , Cricket World Cup

Rugby League

* The Lion Red Cup was won by the Counties Manukau Heroes who beat the Waitakere City Raiders 34-22 in the grand final. Waitakere were the minor premiers.
* In their second season the Auckland Warriors placed 11th of 20 teams in the Australian National Rugby League competition. They had been in finals contention until losing their last six games.

Rugby Union

, Super 14, Rugby Union World Cup, National Provincial Championship , , Bledisloe Cup , Tri Nations Series , Ranfurly Shield

*Golf: New Zealand Open , Check in overseas tourniments.
*Horse racing: See , list winners.
*Rugby league New Zealand Warriors , Bartercard Cup , New Zealand national rugby league team , Rugby League World Cup
*Netball: Silver Ferns , National Bank Cup , Netball World Championships

occer

* The National Summer Soccer League was inaugurated to replace the New Zealand National Soccer League, so there was no 1996 league champion.
* The New Zealand national soccer team placed third in the OFC Nations Cup, which this year was played as a league rather than a tournament.
* Chatham Cup won by Waitakere City F.C.

Births

Deaths

* 21 April: Paraone Reweti, politician.
* 7 June: Tom Puna, cricketer.
* 10 August: Les George, rugby player and administrator.
* 26 November: Joan Hammond, opera singer.
* 17 December: Lawrie Miller, cricketer.

Undated

* Barry Crump, author.
* Peter Tait, politician.

References

ee 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 1996 not specifically related to New Zealand see": 1996