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2003 in New Zealand:

Other years in New Zealand

2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 (2003) • 2004 • 2005 • 2006

Incumbents

Regal and Vice Regal

• Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand
• Governor-General - The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, QSO^[1]

Government

The 47th New Zealand Parliament continued. Government was a coalition between Labour and the small Progressive party with United Future supporting supply votes.

• Speaker of the House - Jonathan Hunt (Labour)
• Prime Minister - Helen Clark (Labour)
• Deputy Prime Minister - Michael Cullen (Labour)
• Minister of Finance - Michael Cullen (Labour)
• Minister of Foreign Affairs - Phil Goff (Labour)

Opposition Leaders

• National - Bill English then Don Brash (Leader of the Opposition)
• Greens - Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald
• Act - Richard Prebble
• New Zealand First - Winston Peters
• United Future - Peter Dunne

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland - John Banks
• Mayor of Hamilton - David Braithwaite
• Mayor of Wellington - Kerry Prendergast
• Mayor of Christchurch - Gary Moore
• Mayor of Dunedin - Sukhi Turner

Events

• 11 February: Donna Awatere Huata is expelled from tha caucus of political party ACT New Zealand. She remains in parliament.
• 30 June: Announcement that the North Island population reaches 3 million, North Shore City reaches 200,000 and Porirua City reaches 50,000
• 5 July: 350 skiers and 70 staff were trapped in skifield facilities on Mount Ruapehu when a sudden storm closes the access road. All descend safely the next day.
• August: The Refugee Status Appeals Authority declares that Ahmed Zaoui is a genuine asylum seeker. He is moved from a maximum security to medium security prison as a result.
• 15 August: The Strongman mine coal mine closes. [2]
• 28 October: Don Brash becomes parliamentary leader of the National Party.
• October: Australian company Toll Holdings completes a takeover bid for Tranz Rail
• 18 November: the Supreme Court declares that Donna Awatere Huata has no right to her parliamentary seat.
• Evangelical Christian based political party Destiny New Zealand formed.

Arts and literature

New Books

Awards

• Nick Ascroft and Sarah Quigley win the Robert Burns Fellowship.

New Zealand Book Awards

• Readers' Choice: Playing God Glenn Colquhoun
• Non-fiction: Wine Atlas of New Zealand Michael Cooper
• Fiction: The Shag Incident Stephanie Johnson
• Poetry: Playing God Glenn Colquhoun
• History: No idle rich: The Wealthy in Canterbury & Otago 1840-1914 Jim McAloon
• Lifestyle and contemporary culture: Wine Atlas of New Zealand Michael Cooper
• Biography: A sort of conscience: The Wakefields Philip Temple
• Illustrative: Len Castle: Potter Nancy Pel and Len Castle
• Reference & Anthology: Spirit in a strange land: A Selection of New Zealand spiritual verse edited by Paul Morris, Harry Ricketts and Mike Grimshaw
• Environment* Te Araroa: The New Zealand Trail Geoff Chapple

Music

• New Zealand Music Awards
  • Album Of The Year: The Datsuns – The Datsuns
  • Single Of The Year: Goodshirt – Sophie
  • Best Group: The Datsuns – The Datsuns
  • Breakthrough Artist Of The Year: The Datsuns – The Datsuns
  • Best Male Vocalist: Che Fu – Misty Frequencies
  • Best Female Vocalist: Bic Runga – Beautiful Collision
  • Best Solo Artist: Bic Runga – Beautiful Collision
  • Best Urban Album: Nesian Mystik – Polysaturated
  • Best Music Video: Joe Lonie – Sophie (Goodshirt)
  • Outstanding International Achievement: The Datsuns
  • Best Mana Reo Album: Ngahiwi Apanui – E Tau Nei
  • Best Mana Maori Album: Upper Hutt Posse – Te Reo Maori Remixes
  • Highest Selling Nz Album: Bic Runga – Beautiful Collision
  • Highest Selling Nz Single: Katchafire – Giddy Up
  • Producer Of The Year: Bic Runga – Beautiful Collision
  • Engineer Of The Year: Clint Murphy And Dave Rhodes – Blindspott
  • Best Dance Album: Salmonella Dub – Outside The Dubplates
  • Best Jazz Album: Kevin Clark – Once Upon A Song I Flew
  • Best Pacific Island Album: Pacific Soul – Pacific Soul
  • Best Roots Music Album: Trinity Roots – True
  • Best Classical Album: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra – Douglas Lilburn: The Three Symphonies
  • Songwriter Of The Year: Goodshirt – Sophie
  • Best Cover Design: Campbell Hooper-Johnson – 'Flock: The Best Of The Mutton Birds'
  • New Zealand Music Radio Programmer Of The Year: Andi Dawkins – More FM Christchurch
  • Lifetime Achievement Award: Dylan Taite

Television

• 3 October: TV4 is replaced by C4.

Film

• Kombi Nation
• The Last Samurai
• The Whale Rider
• 17 December: World premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in Wellington

Internet

See: NZ Internet History

Sport

Athletics

• Todd Stevens wins his first national title in the men's marathon, clocking 2:30:09 on 3 May in Rotorua, while Maree Turner claims her first in the women's championship (2:55:40).

Basketball

• The NBL won by the Wellington Saints who beat the Waikato Titans 97-88 in the final.
• The Women's NBL was won by the Wellington Swish who beat the Waikato Lady Titans 86-82 in the final

Horse racing

Harness racing

• The 100th running of the New Zealand Trotting Cup was won by Just an Excuse ^[2]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Elsu ^[3]

Thoroughbred racing

Motor Racing

• 12 October: Scott Dixon wins the Indy Racing League Championship

Netball

• the 11th Netball World Championships were held in Kingston, Jamaica. New Zealand won, beating Australia in the final.

Rugby union

• 11 October: Auckland defeat Canterbury to win the Ranfurly Shield, ending Canterbury's run of 23 defences.
• 11 October: New Zealand - Italy (70 - 7) in pool D of the Rugby World Cup
• 17 October: New Zealand beat Canada (68 - 6) in pool D of the Rugby World Cup
• 24 October: New Zealand beat Tonga (91 - 7) in pool D of the Rugby World Cup
• 2 November: New Zealand beat Wales (53 - 37) in pool D of the Rugby World Cup, finishing top of pool D
• 8 November: New Zealand beat South Africa (29 - 9) in the first Quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup
• 15 November: New Zealand lose to Australia (10 - 22) in the first semi-final of the Rugby World Cup
• 20 November: Playoff: (Loser SF1 - Loser SF2) New Zealand beat France (40 - 13) to take 3rd place in the Rugby World Cup

Rugby league

• Bartercard Cup won by Canterbury Bulls
• The New Zealand Warriors finished 6th (of 15 teams) in the minor premiership, qualifying for the finals series, where they won two games before losing the preliminary final to minor premieres the Penrith Panthers.

Soccer

• New Zealand National Soccer League won by Miramar Rangers
• The Chatham Cup is won by University - Mount Wellington who beat Melville United 3—1 in the final. ^[4]

Yachting

• 19 January: Swiss yacht Alinghi, skippered by Russell Coutts, beats Oracle BMW Racing 4-1 to win the Louis Vuitton Cup off Auckland and goes on to challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup.
• 2 March: Alinghi, skippered by Russell Coutts, beats Team New Zealand boat New Zealand skippered by Dean Barker 5-0 to win the America's Cup

Births

• November: Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman

Deaths

• 8 January: Mac Price, diplomat.
• 22 January: Dylan Taite, music journalist.
• 14 April: John Kent, cartoonist.
• 30 April: Peter 'Possum' Bourne, rally driver.
• 12 May: Stan Lay, MBE, Olympic javelin thrower
• 24 May: Dr. Neil Cherry, environmental scientist.
• 21 July: John Davies, athlete.
• 2 September: Dame Reubina (Ann) Ballin.
• 5 September: Sir Richard Harrison, politician.
• 7 September: Merv Wellington, politician.
• 15 September: Anthony Treadwell, architect.
• 31 October: Lindsay Weir, cricketer.
• 24 November: Millie Khan, bowler.

• Jonathan Dennis, film historian.
• Mike Hinge, artist and illustrator.
• Philip Holloway, politician.
• Allan McCready, politician.
• Sid Scales, cartoonist.

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 2003 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 2003

References