# 2008 in New Zealand

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive
The following lists events that happened during 2008 in New Zealand.

## Population

* Estimated population as of 31 December: 4,280,300.
* Increase since 31 December 2007: 34,500 (0.81%).
* Males per 100 Females: 95.7.

## Incumbents
### Regal and vice regal

* Monarch – Elizabeth II
* Governor-General – Anand Satyanand
* Elizabeth II
* Anand Satyanand

### Government

2008 was the third and last year of the 48th Parliament, which was dissolved on 3 October. A general election was held on 8 November to elect the 49th Parliament, which saw the Fifth National Government elected.
* Speaker of the House – Margaret Wilson then Lockwood Smith
* Prime Minister – Helen Clark to 19 November, then John Key
* Deputy Prime Minister – Michael Cullen to 19 November, then Bill English
* Minister of Finance – Michael Cullen to 19 November, then Bill English
* Minister of Foreign Affairs – Winston Peters to 29 August, then Helen Clark (acting) to 19 November, then Murray McCully
* Margaret Wilson
* Lockwood Smith
* Helen Clark
* John Key
* Michael Cullen
* Bill English
* Winston Peters
* Murray McCully

### Party leaders

* Labour – Helen Clark to 11 November, then Phil Goff
* National – John Key
* Progressive – Jim Anderton
* New Zealand First – Winston Peters
* United Future – Peter Dunne
* Act – Rodney Hide
* Greens – Jeanette Fitzsimons and Russel Norman
* Māori Party – Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples
* Helen Clark
* Phil Goff
* John Key
* Jim Anderton
* Winston Peters
* Peter Dunne
* Rodney Hide
* Jeanette Fitzsimons
* Russel Norman
* Pita Sharples

### Judiciary

* Chief Justice — Sian Elias
* Dame Sian Elias

### Main centre leaders

* Mayor of Auckland – John Banks
* Mayor of Tauranga – Stuart Crosby
* Mayor of Hamilton – Bob Simcock
* Mayor of Wellington – Kerry Prendergast
* Mayor of Christchurch – Bob Parker
* Mayor of Dunedin – Peter Chin
* John Banks
* Stuart Crosby
* Kerry Prendergast
* Bob Parker
* Peter Chin

## Events
### January

* 22 January – State funeral for Sir Edmund Hillary

### February

* 17 February – A helicopter and a Cessna 152 collide mid-air in Paraparaumu, causing the deaths of three people. The aeroplane hit the roof of a house, and the helicopter fell onto a PlaceMakers store.

### April

* 5 April – A propane explosion at a coolstore in Tamahere kills firefighter senior station officer Derek Lovell, and seriously injures seven others.

### May

* 8 May – The Tapuae Marine Reserve is established.

### June

* 5 June – A newly redesigned flag for the Governor General of New Zealand is flown for the first time at Government House, Auckland.

### July

* 1 July – Rail transport network is renationalised as KiwiRail
* 11 July – Police Sergeant Derek Wootton (52) is struck and killed by a vehicle fleeing police, while laying road spikes at Titahi Bay.
* 30 July – A state of emergency is declared in Marlborough due to flooding.

### August

* 1 August – Crown entities Land Transport New Zealand and Transit New Zealand merge to form the NZ Transport Agency
* 16 August – Dunedin 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.

### September

* 5 September – Fonterra advise Prime Minister Helen Clark of the 2008 baby milk scandal.
* 7 September – The Taputeranga Marine Reserve is opened.
* 11 September – Undercover police Sergeant Don Wilkinson (47) is fatally shot in Māngere, after being discovered attempting to secretly fix a tracking device to a car.
* 24 September - GO Wellington dispute - an industrial dispute between the GO Wellington bus company and drivers

### October

On the 17th The Dominion Post Billboard Heading Reads "Market Madness" There is also a graph on the Billboard showing the NZX taking a big dive . This was indicative of the worlds sharemarkets in turmoil.

### November

* 8 November – John Key and the New Zealand National Party win the 2008 general election. John Key is able to form a Government and in Helen Clark's speech that she resigns as leader of the New Zealand Labour Party.
* 9 November – Michael Cullen resigns as deputy leader of the Labour Party.
* 19 November – John Key is sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
* 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.

### Holidays and observances

* 6 February – Waitangi Day
* 21 March – Good Friday
* 23 March – Easter Sunday
* 24 March – Easter Monday
* 25 April – Anzac Day
* 2 June – Queen's Birthday
* 5 June – Matariki
* 27 October – Labour Day

## Arts and literature
### New books

* Brower, Ann (August 2008). Who Owns the High Country? The controversial story of tenure review in New Zealand. New Zealand: Nelson: Craig Potton Publishing. ISBN 978-1-877333-78-1.
* Catton, Eleanor (2008). The Rehearsal. New Zealand: Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-1-84708-116-2.

### Awards

* BPANZ Book Design Awards - In association with Spectrum Print and the New Zealand Listener id=13
* BEST BOOK Title: Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning
* BEST COVER Winner: Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning
* NON-ILLUSTRATED Winner: Dear to Me
* ILLUSTRATED Winner: Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning
* EDUCATIONAL Winner: Astronomy Aotearoa NCEA Level 1 by Robert Shaw ISBN 978-0-7339-9261-2
* CHILDREN’S Winner: The King's Bubbles by Ruth Paul

### Music

* May - New Zealand Music Month
* 3 September: Technical Awards for the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards
* 8 October: Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards

### Performing arts

* Benny Award presented by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand to Suzanne Lynch MNZM.

### Television

* Freeview|HD Digital television is launched.
* The country's first Chinese television channel, CTV8 (Chinese Television 8) is launched in early October.

## Sport
### 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

### Horse racing
#### Harness racing

* New Zealand Trotting Cup: Changeover
* Auckland Trotting Cup: Gotta Go Cullen

#### Thoroughbred racing
### Netball

* The ANZ Netball Championship begins in April 2008.

### Olympic Games

* New Zealand sends a team of 182 competitors across 17 sports.
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |

### Paralympics

* New Zealand sends a team of 30 competitors across seven sports.
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 5 | 3 | 4 | 12 |

### Rugby league

* The New Zealand national rugby league team won the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.
* The New Zealand Warriors finished 8th in the National Rugby League and in the playoffs made it through to the semi-finals, beating minor premiers the Melbourne Storm in the progress.
* The inaugural season of the new Bartercard Premiership saw Auckland defeat Canterbury 38-10 in the grand final.

### Shooting

* Ballinger Belt – Brian Carter (Te Puke)

### 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.
* The Chatham Cup is won by East Coast Bays AFC who beat Dunedin Technical 1—0 in the final.

### Tennis
## Births

* 17 March - Nate Wilbourne, environmentalist and activist
* 12 August – Dwayne Li, figure skater
* 18 September – Silent Achiever, Thoroughbred racehorse
* 23 September – Zurella, Thoroughbred racehorse
* 13 October – Ocean Park, Thoroughbred racehorse

## Deaths
### January

* 1 January – Joan Dingley, mycologist (born 1916)
* 2 January – Lindsay Poole, botanist and forester (born 1908)
* 4 January
** Graham Percy, artist, designer and illustrator (born 1938)
** Bert Walker, politician (born 1919)
* 6 January – Charlie Steele, Jr., association football player (born 1930)
* 10 January – Sir George Laking, diplomat (born 1912)
* 11 January – Sir Edmund Hillary, mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist (born 1919)
* 16 January – Hone Tuwhare, poet (born 1922)

### February

* 12 February – Ron Chippindale, pilot, air accident investigator (born 1933)
* 14 February – June Schoch, athlete (born 1926)
* 16 February – K. Radway Allen, fisheries biologist (born 1911)
* 19 February – Barry Barclay, filmmaker (born 1944)
* 28 February – Peter Bannister, botanist (born 1939)

### March

* 13 March – Tessa Birnie, concert pianist (born 1934)
* 18 March – Ruth Dallas, poet and children's author (born 1919)
* 21 March – Merv Wallace, cricketer (born 1916)

### April

* 2 April – Sir Geoffrey Cox, newspaper and television journalist (born 1910)
* 6 April – Tony Davies, rugby union player (born 1939)
* 10 April – Greg Hough, association football player (born 1958)
* 11 April – Fraser Colman, politician (born 1925)
* 12 April – Dame Augusta Wallace, jurist, first woman District Court judge (born 1929)
* 15 April – Mahinārangi Tocker singer–songwriter (born 1955)

### May

* 4 May – Colin Murdoch, pharmacist, veterinarian and inventor (born 1929)
* 8 May – William L. Holland, Pacific affairs academic (born 1907)
* 20 May – Mihi Edwards, writer, social worker, teacher (born 1918)

### June

* 1 June – Doug Zohrab, diplomat (born 1917)
* 4 June – John Armitt, wrestler (born 1925)
* 5 June
** Colin Kay, athlete and politician, mayor of Auckland (1980–83) (born 1926)
** Bruce Purchase, actor (born 1938)
* 24 June
** Neill Austin, politician (born 1924)
** Charlie Dempsey, association football administrator (born 1921)
* 27 June – Lyn Davis, rugby union player (born 1943)
* 30 June – Just An Excuse, Standardbred racehorse (foaled 1998)

### July

* 16 July – Bob Walton, police officer (born 1921)
* 17 July – Sir Graham Speight, jurist (born 1921)
* 25 July – Walter Metcalf, physical chemistry academic (born 1918)
* 31 July – Falani Aukuso, Tokelauan public servant

### August

* 6 August – Ken Going, rugby union player (born 1942)
* 9 August – Bob Cunis, cricket player and coach (born 1941)
* 16 August – Rei Hamon, artist (born 1919)
* 25 August – Hardwicke Knight, historian and photographer (born 1911)
* 31 August – Victor Yates, rugby union and league player (born 1939)

### September

* 7 September – Sir Hamish Hay, politician, mayor of Christchurch (1974–89) (born 1927)
* 8 September – Ron Guthrey, soldier, politician, mayor of Christchurch (1968–71) (born 1916)
* 11 September – Sue Garden-Bachop, rugby union player, coach and administrator (born c.1961)
* 13 September – Duncan Laing, swimming coach (born 1933)
* 15 September
** Peter Hanan, swimmer (born 1915)
** Arthur Stubbs, soldier, oldest New Zealand war veteran (born 1904)
* 21 September – Al Hobman, professional wrestler (born 1925)
* 25 September
** Wynne Bradburn, cricketer (born 1938)
** Brian Donnelly, politician and diplomat (born 1949)

### October

* 2 October – Rob Guest, actor and singer (born 1950)
* 14 October – Dame Daphne Purves, educator (born 1908)
* 15 October – Des Townson, yacht designer (born 1934)
* 26 October – Neil Purvis, rugby union player (born 1953)
* 29 October – John Darwin, statistician and public servant (born 1923)

### November

* 6 November – Kevin J. Sharpe, mathematician, theologian and archaeologist (born 1950)
* 7 November – Hedley Howarth, cricketer (born 1943)
* 8 November – Hugh Cook, science fiction writer (born 1956)
* 27 November – Mike Minogue, politician (born 1923)
* 29 November – Robert Wade, chess player (born 1921)

### December

* 6 December – Peter Wardle, plant ecologist (born 1931)
* 13 December – John Drake, rugby union player (born 1959)
* 16 December – Peg Batty, cricketer (born 1920)
* 24 December – Ian Ballinger, sports shooter (born 1925)