2018 in New Zealand

← 2017 2016 2015 2018 in New Zealand → 2019 2020 2021
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 2018 in New Zealand.

Population

• Estimated population as of 31 December 2018 – 4,886,100
• Increase since 31 December 2017 – 80,700 (1.68%)
• Males per 100 females – 96.8

Incumbents

Regal and vice-regal

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

• 
  Elizabeth II
• 
  Patsy Reddy

Government

2018 is the first full year of the 52nd Parliament, which first sat on 7 November 2017.

The Sixth Labour Government, elected in 2017, continues.

• Speaker of the House – Trevor Mallard
• Prime Minister – Jacinda Ardern
• Deputy Prime Minister – Winston Peters
• Leader of the House – Chris Hipkins
• Minister of Finance – Grant Robertson
• Minister of Foreign Affairs – Winston Peters

• 
  Trevor Mallard
• 
  Jacinda Ardern
• 
  Winston Peters
• 
  Chris Hipkins
• 
  Grant Robertson

Other party leaders

• National – Bill English until 27 February, then Simon Bridges (Leader of the Opposition)
• New Zealand First – Winston Peters
• Green – James Shaw and, from 8 April, Marama Davidson
• ACT New Zealand – David Seymour

• 
  Bill English
• 
  Simon Bridges
• 
  Winston Peters
• 
  James Shaw
• 
  Marama Davidson
• 
  David Seymour

Judiciary

• Chief Justice – Sian Elias

• 
  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

• 
  Phil Goff
• 
  Greg Brownless
• 
  Andrew King
• 
  Justin Lester
• 
  Lianne Dalziell
• 
  Dave Cull

Events

February

• 3 February - Murder of Amber-Rose Rush, a Dunedin teenager. A doctor named Venod Skantha is charged with her murder.

March

• 6 March – The 2018 New Zealand census is held.

May

• 11 May – A wave of about 24 metres (79 ft) height, the highest ever recorded, is observed near Campbell Island south of New Zealand; the previous record wave in 2012 was about 22 metres (72 ft).
• 17 May – The 2018 New Zealand budget is presented to Parlimanet by the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson.

June

• 4 June – The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are announced.
• 9 June – The Northcote by-election is won by National, who retain the seat.

December

• 1 or 2 December – Murder of Grace Millane, a British tourist. A 26-year-old man is charged with her murder on 8 December.
• 31 December – The 2019 New Year Honours are announced.

Sport

Commonwealth Games

Main article: New Zealand at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

• New Zealand sends a team of 253 competitors in 17 sports.

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
15	16	15	46

Olympic Games

Main article: New Zealand at the 2018 Winter Olympics

• New Zealand sends a team of 21 competitors in five sports.

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
0	0	2	2

Paralympic Games

Main article: New Zealand at the 2018 Winter Paralympics

• New Zealand sends a team of three competitors in two sports.

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	0	2	3

Sailing

• 24 February – 18 March: Auckland is a stopover on the 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race

Shooting

• Ballinger Belt – John Snowden (Ashburton)

Youth Olympics

Main article: New Zealand at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics

• New Zealand sends a team of 61 competitors.

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
3	1	0	4

Births

• 10 November – Asterix, Thoroughbred racehorse

Deaths

January

• 4 January
  • Owen Hardy, World War II fighter pilot (born 1922)
  • Gail McIntosh, politician (born 1955)
• 5 January
  • Barry Thomas, rugby union player (born 1937)
  • Peter Wells, high jumper (born 1929)
• 7 January
  • Jim Anderton, politician (born 1938)
  • Buster Stiggs, musician (born 1954)
• 12 January – Richard Peterson, fencer, sports administrator (born 1940)
• 17 January – Ted McCoy, architect (born 1925)
• 21 January – Michael Selby, geomorphologist (born 1936)
• 22 January
  • Jack Doms, swimmer (born 1927)
  • Kevin Tate, soil chemist, climate scientist (born 1943)
• 25 January – Graham Williams, rugby union player (born 1945)
• 27 January – Grant Fell, musician (born c. 1961)
• 31 January – Pat Booth, journalist (born 1929)

February

• 3 February – Ted Corbett, organic chemist (born 1923)
• 8 February – Gary Seear, rugby union player (born 1952)
• 10 February – Bevan Congdon, cricketer (born 1938)
• 11 February – Darien Boswell, rower (born 1938)
• 21 February – Beryl Fletcher, novelist (born 1938)
• 25 February – Noel Scott, politician (born 1929)
• 27 February – Keith Murdoch, rugby union player (born 1943)

March

• 2 March – Gordon Challis, poet (born 1932)
• 9 March – Robin Archer, rugby union player and coach (born 1930)
• 11 March – Paddy Donovan, boxer, rugby union player (born 1936)
• 14 March
  • Peter Entwisle, art historian (born 1948)
  • Mac McCallion, rugby union player and coach (born 1950)
• 20 March – Dylan Mika, rugby union player (born 1972)
• 28 March – Norm Wilson, cricketer (born 1931)

April

• 6 April – Colin McLeod, civil engineer (born 1921)
• 10 April – Fergie McCormick, rugby union player (born 1939)
• 11 April – Robert Matthews, Paralympic athlete (born 1961)
• 16 April – Ivan Mauger, motorcycle speedway rider (born 1939)
• 23 April – Haddon Donald, soldier, politician (born 1917)
• 24 April – Arthur Eustace, athlete, athletics coach and administrator (born 1926)
• 25 April – Margo Buchanan-Oliver, marketing academic (born 1952)
• 26 April – David Mitchell, architect (born 1941)

May

• 2 May – Katherine O'Regan, politician (born 1946)
• 4 May – Tony Steel, rugby union player, politician (born 1941)
• 9 May
  • Norma, Lady Beattie – vice-regal consort (born 1925)
  • Carl Perkins, musician (born c. 1959)
• 15 May – Hopeful Christian, founder of Gloriavale Christian Community (born 1926)
• 16 May – Tom Hadfield, rugby league player (born 1934)
• 19 May – John Moorfield, Māori language academic (born 1943)
• 28 May – Dick Quax, athlete, local-body politician (born 1948)

June

• 4 June – J. B. Munro, politician, disability advocate (born 1936)
• 7 June – Sir Neil Waters, university administrator (born 1931)
• 13 June – Milan Mrkusich, artist, designer (born 1925)
• 14 June
  • Vincent Gray, chemist, climate change denier (born 1922)
  • Steve Kuzmicich, statistician (born 1931)
• 18 June – Graham Davy, athlete, sports administrator (born 1936)
• 23 June – Koro Wētere, politician (born 1935)
• 30 June – Mark Irwin, rugby union player (born 1935)

July

• 1 July – Merv Richards, pole vaulter, gymnastics and pole vault coach (born 1930)
• 3 July – Gary Bold, physicist (born 1938)
• 4 July – Harry M. Miller, impresario (born 1934)
• 9 July
  • Sam Chisholm, media executive (born 1939)
  • Colin Quincey, first person to row solo across the Tasman Sea (born 1945)
• 13 July – Naturalism, Thoroughbred racehorse (foaled 1988)
• 14 July – Janet Holm, environmental activist, historian (born 1923)
• 17 July – David Stevens, screenwriter (born 1940)
• 25 July – Rick Littlewood, judoka (born 1940)
• 29 July
  • Graham Finlay, boxer (born 1936)
  • Phillip Orchard, rugby league player (born 1948)

August

• 2 August – Bob Berry, dendrologist (born 1916)
• 3 August
  • Reinhart Langer, botanist, university administrator (born 1921)
  • Murray Matthewson, orthopaedic surgeon (born 1944)
• 4 August – Delwyn Costello, cricketer (born 1960)
• 6 August – Helen Mackenzie, swimmer (born 1930)
• 17 August – Warwick Roger, journalist, magazine editor (born 1945)
• 18 August – Ronnie Moore, speedway rider (born 1933)
• 19 August – Margaret Reid, Presbyterian minister (born 1923)
• 20 August – Greg Boyed, television presenter (born 1970)
• 21 August – Spencer P. Jones, musician (born 1956)
• 23 August – Wendy Hutton, travel and food writer (born 1940)
• 30 August – Jack Garrick, ichthyologist (born 1928)

September

• 5 September
  • Alan Peart, World War II fighter ace (born 1922)
  • John Stacpoole, architect, historian (born 1919)
• 7 September – John O'Sullivan, rugby league player (born 1950)
• 14 September – Ruth Dowman, athlete (born 1930)
• 16 September – Assid Corban, politician, businessman (born 1925)
• 22 September – Hayden Poulter, convicted murderer (born 1961)
• 24 September – Merv Smith, radio personality (born 1933)

October

• 2 October – Barry Linton, cartoonist (born 1947)
• 3 October – David Fergusson, psychologist (born 1944)
• 4 October
  • Penny Bright, activist (born 1954)
  • Barrie Frost, psychologist, neuroscientist (born c. 1939)
• 6 October – Wilf Malcolm, mathematician, university administrator (born 1933)
• 13 October – Bob Doran, computer scientist (born 1944)
• 14 October – Tom Delahunty, association football referee (born 1935)
• 17 October
  • Denis Adam, arts patron (born 1924)
  • Sir Ngātata Love, academic, Te Āti Awa leader (born 1937)
  • Sir Thomas Thorp, jurist (born 1925)
• 19 October – Sir John McGrath, jurist (born 1945)
• 24 October – Keith Hunter, marine and freshwater chemist (born 1951)
• 27 October – Murray Khouri, clarinetist (born 1941)
• 29 October
  • Peter Hawes, playwright, novelist, and scriptwriter (born 1947)
  • June Kerr, ballerina (born 1932)
• 31 October
  • Sir Thomas Eichelbaum, jurist (born 1931)
  • Maurice Mahoney, architect (born 1929)

November

• 4 November – Tama Renata, musician
• 6 November – Gordon Whiting, jurist (born 1942)
• 13 November – Sir John Anderson, businessman, sports administrator (born 1945)
• 14 November – Douglas Wright, dancer, choreographer (born 1956)
• 18 November – Peter Peryer, photographer (born 1941)
• 19 November – Neil Collins, broadcaster, local-body politician (born 1941)
• 20 November – Cyril Belshaw, anthropologist (born 1921)
• 24 November – Gordon Copeland, politician (born 1943)
• 28 November – Georgie Salter, netball player and coach (born c. 1951)

December

• 1 December – Vivian Lynn, artist (born 1931)
• 2 December – William Smith, naval officer (born 1922)
• 3 December – Geoff Murphy, film director and screenwriter (born 1938)
• 5 December – John Armstrong, politician (born 1935)
• 6 December – Robin Clark, chemist (born 1935)
• 11 December
  • Winifred Griffin, swimmer (born 1932)
  • Hiwi Tauroa, rugby union player and coach, Race Relations Conciliator (born 1927)
• 20 December
  • Randall Carrington, cricketer (born 1934)
  • Trevor Chinn, glaciologist (born 1937)
• 21 December – Fay Gock, horticulturalist (born 1933)
• 25 December – Bill Baillie, athlete (born 1934)
• 30 December – Harry Atkinson, physicist, science administrator (born 1929)