The following lists events that happened during 2005 in New Zealand.
At the beginning of 2005, the news was dominated by the recent "Boxing Day Tsunami". New Zealanders gave time and $25 million (money and goods) for relief in the areas affected.
The Foreshore and seabed legislation came into effect and was criticised by a UN committee.
The general election was the first contested by the Māori Party and Destiny New Zealand. It resulted in the continuation of the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand.
Population Estimated population as of 31 December: 4,161,000. Increase since 31 December 2004: 46,600 (1.13%). Males per 100 Females: 96.0.
Incumbents
Regal and viceregal Head of State – Elizabeth II Governor-General – Dame Silvia CartwrightThe Hon Dame Silvia Cartwright, PCNZM, DBE, QSO gg.govt.nz. Retrieved 30 April 2012
Government The 47th New Zealand Parliament continued. Government was a coalition between Labour and the Progressives, with United Future supporting supply votes. At the 17 September election, the government arrangements changed considerably. The Labour-Progressive government is now supported by New Zealand First and United Future, both with their leader as a minister outside Cabinet.
Speaker of the House – Jonathan Hunt (Labour) then Margaret Wilson (Labour) Prime Minister – Helen Clark (Labour) Deputy Prime Minister – Michael Cullen (Labour) Minister of Finance – Michael Cullen (Labour) Minister of Foreign Affairs during the 47th Parliament – Phil Goff (Labour) Non-Labour ministers Jim Anderton (Progressives) (within Cabinet) Winston Peters (New Zealand First) – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Racing and Associate Minister of Senior Citizens during the 48th Parliament (outside Cabinet) Peter Dunne (United Future), Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Health during the 48th Parliament (outside Cabinet)
Opposition leaders National – Don Brash (Leader of the Opposition) Greens – Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald (until his death in November) Act – Rodney Hide New Zealand First – Winston Peters United Future – Peter Dunne Māori Party – Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples
Judiciary Chief Justice — Sian Elias
Main centre leaders Mayor of Auckland – Dick Hubbard Mayor of Tauranga – Stuart Crosby Mayor of Hamilton – Michael Redman Mayor of Wellington – Kerry Prendergast Mayor of Christchurch – Garry Moore Mayor of Dunedin – Peter Chin
Events
January 16 January: National day of mourning for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, including one minute's silence at 2:59 pm, exactly three weeks after the event. 17 January: The Foreshore and seabed legislation comes into effect. 25 January: Opposition leader Don Brash pledges to cut the number of working-age beneficiaries by one third over ten years. He plans to particularly reduce the number of solo parents on the Domestic Purposes Benefit.
February 22 February: Social Development minister Steve Maharey announces that seven benefits will be merged into one, with supplements available for accommodation, disability, and childcare. The benefits replaced include unemployment, sickness, disability, and the domestic purposes benefit. The new benefit will apply from 2007 but trial areas will pilot the scheme from May 2005.
March 5–10 March: The Prince of Wales (now Charles III) tours New Zealand. The most controversial incident was two women baring their breasts to him, in protest against a misreported objection by the Prince to a topless Aborigine dance in Australia, and the temporary closure of a breast cancer screening caravan due to security concerns during the visit. 12 March: The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination states that the Foreshore and seabed legislation discriminates against Māori by extinguishing the possibility of establishing Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed, and by not providing a means of redress. March: Easter road toll the highest for several years.
April 4 April: Government member of parliament John Tamihere is involved in a major scandal after speaking candidly and scathingly about his fellow Labour MPs to a reporter (an interview which Tamihere claims was off-the-record). Further details of comments made at the interview were released a week later. 12 April: John Tamihere is censured by the Labour Party caucus for his earlier comments, but was not asked to resign from the party. 21 April: Bus drivers in Auckland working for Stagecoach have voted to strike for six days from 5 May in support of their claim for an extra $2 an hour. 21 April: 700 coal miners strike for the day in the first national coal miners' strike in New Zealand for more than a decade. The miners want a 6% wage increase, but their employer, Solid Energy, is offering 2.8%. 26 April: The Civil Unions and Relationships Acts come into force. These Acts allow same-sex and de facto couples to form legal unions similar to marriage.
May 3 May: An Airwork Fairchild Metro III explodes while flying from Auckland to Woodbourne, about 5 km east of Stratford. The plane had two pilots and was carrying courier parcels. Both men were killed. Residents in the area report hearing a loud noise, with some seeing a fireball and falling debris. Wreckage is spread over a 15 km area.(SMH) 6 May: A bridge near Wairoa on the East Coast of the North Island collapsed sending two train wagons and a crane on the East Coast into the Nūhaka River 9 metres below. The accident which happened at about 7:30 am NZST and there was nobody on board the wagons or crane.(TVNZ) 6 May: Graeme Fraser, the chairman of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority resigns after State Services Commission report into the 2004 NCEA scholarship exams. There was a wide discrepancy between the number of scholarships awarded in Arts subjects compared to Science subjects. The report laid most of the blame on NZQA. It said they failed to "see that wide variability in scholarship results could undermine the credibility of the exams". 10 May: A letter sent to the New Zealand prime minister alleges that foot and mouth disease has been released on Waiheke Island. The letter writer threatens further releases unless tax reforms are made. While the letter is considered likely to be a hoax, a farm on Waiheke is quarantined. New Zealand has been free of the foot and mouth virus to date. 14 May: Telecom New Zealand is planning to increase security for its voicemail service after a hacker managed to access the voicemail famous New Zealanders such as Dick Hubbard, Auckland mayor. Telecom's public affairs manager was only aware that his own voicemail had been accessed after being told by a computer journalist. The voicemail of several policemen was accessed. 17 May: David Benson-Pope stands down as New Zealand's Associate Education Minister after three people alleged that he had administered cruel punishments to them while he was a high-school teacher in Dunedin. Benson-Pope has previously denied the allegations in Parliament. 18 May: Fierce storms lash the Bay of Plenty, forcing the declaration of a state of emergency and the evacuation of homes in Tauranga and Matatā.(BOP Times)(NZ City) (Newstalk NB) 24 May: The appeal of six Pitcairn men who were sentenced for sexual abuse of young girls fails. An Auckland court has continued their bail until their appeal to the Privy Council is heard, most likely in April 2006. (BBC)
June 2 June: New Zealand electricity supplier Meridian Energy announces plans to build one of the world's largest wind farms at Mākara, west of Wellington. The farm is planned to have 70 turbines, each over 100 metres high, and to generate 210 MW, which would be sufficient to power the whole of Wellington, Porirua, and Lower Hutt. 4 June: At the start of the Queen's Birthday long weekend in New Zealand, rain, snow and ice closed several major highways. State Highway 1 (known as the Desert Road) was closed in the morning between Waiouru and Rangipo in the central North Island, and State Highway 4 between Wanganui and Taumarunui was also closed for some time. A series of slips in the Manawatū Gorge has caused delays to traffic. The year's first major snowfall in Dunedin has caused problems for motorists there. 10 June: New Zealand MP Sue Bradford introduces a private member's bill to outlaw the smacking of children. The present law requires that physical discipline of a child use no more than "reasonable force". As a private member's bill, this will be a conscience vote. 14 June: The New Zealand High Commissioner to Canada, Graham Kelly, apologises to all New Zealanders for remarks he made to a Canadian Senate committee in April. Kelly insulted Māori, Pacific Islanders and Asian immigrants to New Zealand in an attempt at humour. 18 June: Brian Tamaki, leader of the Destiny Church, was ordained as a bishop on the church's seventh birthday. 20: June Two fibre-optic cables failed in the southern North Island of New Zealand, cutting Telecom New Zealand's cellular and internet services, disrupting EFTPOS transactions, and closing the New Zealand Stock Exchange for five hours. 22 June: 500 residents of the town of Tākaka in the northern South Island are evacuated after a major fire at the town's dairy factory. Evacuation was through fear of an explosion in vats containing caustic soda and sulphuric acid, which could have released toxic gases. 24 June: The New Zealand cricket team announced that it would tour Zimbabwe in August, despite calls for a boycott due to Operation Murambatsvina. The New Zealand government will not stop the tour going to Zimbabwe, but says a return tour by the Zimbabwe team will not be welcome. 26 June: The Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, apologises to New Zealand for the actions of two Israeli citizens, believed to be Mossad agents, who attempted to gain New Zealand passports under false pretences in 2004. The apology allows diplomatic relations between the two countries to return to normal. 30 June: Prince William arrives in New Zealand for an 11-day tour. This was his second trip to New Zealand; he was nine months old on his first visit. During the visit he follows the Lion's tour and has several official engagements. June and July: The British & Irish Lions rugby tour of New Zealand. The tourists lost all three Test matches to the All Blacks, but won all their other games except the one against New Zealand Māori.
July 7 July: The High Court of New Zealand rules that the delays in processing Unitec's application to become a university breach the New Zealand Bill of Rights and that the application should have been considered in 2000. 14 July: Graham Capill, former leader of Christian Heritage Party, is sentenced for nine years for sexual abuse of 3 young girls. 16 July: Bishops of the Catholic Church in New Zealand call for the boycott of the CanWest television channels C4TV and TV3 in protest against C4TV's showing of the irreverent cartoon Popetown. 17 July: Heavy rain causes flooding in the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand, leaving the holiday town of Pauanui cut off when part of the access road washes away. 18 July: Air New Zealand is forced to cancel about 30% of its international flights after flight attendants begin the first of a series of 48-hour strikes. The third strike was called off but flights will not return to normal until Tuesday 26 July. 24 July: Former Prime Minister David Lange is in a serious but stable condition at Middlemore Hospital. Lange has suffered from amyloidosis for some years. 25 July: The date of the 2005 New Zealand general election is set for Saturday 17 September. 31 July: The New Zealand First party launches its 2005 New Zealand general election campaign with a promise that no pre-election coalition deal will be made. Party leader Winston Peters says the campaign issues are immigration, law and order, senior citizens, trade, and Māori affairs.