1996 in New Zealand

• Estimated population as of 31 December: 3,762,300.^[1]
• Increase since 31 December 1995: 55,600 (1.50%).^[1]
• Males per 100 Females: 97.3.^[1]

• Head of State - Elizabeth II
• Governor-General - The Hon Dame Catherine Tizard, ONZ, GCMG, GCVO, DBE, QSO, DStJ followed by The Rt Hon. Sir Michael Hardie Boys GNZM, GCMG, QSO^[2]

The 44th New Zealand Parliament continued. Government was The National Party, led by Jim Bolger. In the 1996 New Zealand general election 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
• Chief Justice — Sir Thomas Eichelbaum

See: Category:Parliament of New Zealand, New Zealand elections

• Act - Roger Douglas then Richard Prebble
• New Zealand First - Winston Peters
• United Future - Peter Dunne
• Labour - Helen Clark (Leader of the Opposition)
• Alliance - Jim Anderton

• 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

• April: The New Zealand Tablet winds up. The weekly Catholic newspaper started publication in 1873.^[3]
• 1 November: Cartoon Network debuts on New Zealand television.
• November: Michael Jackson, the king of pop, performed in Auckland both nights (November 9 and November 11), as a part of his world tour, HIStory World Tour.
• Leaded petrol is phased out.^[4]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

• 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
• f*INK, Dunedin's weekly entertainment magazine is founded

See 1996 in art, 1996 in literature, Category:1996 books

Winners are shown first with nominees underneath.^[5][6]

• Album of the Year: Shihad - Killjoy
  • Finn Brothers - Finn
  • Howard Morrison - Songs of New Zealand
  • Max Lines - Beautiful Panflute I
  • Starlight String Quartet - Romantic Strings
  • Suzanne Prentice - 25th Anniversary
• Single of the Year: OMC – How Bizarre
  • D-Faction - Down in the Boondocks
  • Herbs - French Letter '95
  • Jan Hellriegel - Manic
  • The Exponents - La La Lulu
  • Strawpeople - Sweet Disorder
• Best Male Vocalist: Jon Toogood – Shihad
  • Greg Johnson
  • Dave Dobbyn
• Best Female Vocalist: Teremoana Rapley
  • Sulata
  • Jan Hellriegel
• Best Group: Shihad
  • The Exponents
  • The Mutton Birds
  • Finn Brothers
• Rising Star Award: Kylie Harris
  • Bic Runga
  • Glen Moffatt
• Most Promising Male Vocalist: Paul Fuemana (OMC)
  • Jeremy Eade (Garageland)
  • Otis Frizzell (Joint Force)
• Most Promising Female Vocalist: Bic Runga
  • Celia Mancini (King Loser)
  • Jordan Reyne
• Most Promising Group: OMC
  • Garageland
  • Joint Force
• International Achievement: Shihad
  • Finn Brothers
  • Dave Dobbyn
  • Supergroove
• Best Video: Sigi Spath / Jo Fisher – You Gotta Know (Supergroove)
  • Greg Page - Honeyblonde (Throw)
  • M Noonan and J Frizzell - Static PTI (Joint Force)
• Best Producer: Eddie Rayner - World Stand Still
  • Alan Jansson, Nathan Haines and James Pinker - Shift Left (Nathan Haines)
  • Malcolm Welsford - La La Lulu (The Exponents)
• Best Engineer: Alan Jansson – How Bizarre (Omc)
  • Chris Sinclair - Black Sand Shore (Grace)
  • Malcolm Welsford - La La Lulu (The Exponents)
• Best Jazz Album: Nathan Haines – Shift Left
  • Hattie St John - Flying High at Iguacu
  • Christchurch Polytechnic Sextet - Collaboration
• Best Classical Album: Michael Houston - Beethoven Piano Sonatas from the Middle Period
  • Alexander Ivashkin and Tamas Vesmas - Alfred Schnittke
  • L Subramaniam - Pacific Rendezvous
• Best Country Album: Kylie Harris – Let It Be Love
  • Glen Moffatt - Somewhere in New Zealand Tonight
  • Kevin Greaves - Over the Storm
• Best Folk Album: Rua – Harbour Lights
  • Chris Thompson - Song for Laura
  • Peter Skandera and Dave Maybee - Acoustic Spirit
• Best Gospel Album: Brent Chambers – Living Sacrifices
  • Alastair Brown - Narrow
  • Paul Stephens - Apocalypse
• Best Mana Maori Album: Southside of Bombay with Mina Ripia – Kia Mau
  • Maree Sheehan - Past to Present
  • Moana and The Moahunters - Give it Up Now
  • Ruia - Ka Tangi te Tiitii Ka Tangi to Kaakaa
• Best Mana Reo Album: Southside of Bombay with Mina Ripia – Kia Mau
  • Ruia - Ka Tangi te Tiitii Ka Tangi te Kaakaa
  • Moana and the Moahunters - Akona Te Reo '95
• Best Children's Album: Nga Pihi - 1 & 2
  • Radha and the Kiwis - Sing the World Around
  • Kids TV - You and Me Songbook (Suzy Cato)
• Best Polynesian Album: Southside of Bombay - Umbadada
  • D-Faction - Down in the Boondocks
  • John Akaata - Ura Mai Koe
  • Purest Form - If I Fell/U Can Do It
• Best Songwriter: Mark Tierney / Paul Casserly / Anthony Ioasa - Sweet Disorder (Strawpeople)
  • Glen Moffatt - Somewhere in New Zealand Tonight
  • Greg Johnson - Don't Wait Another Day
• Best Cover: Alec Bathgate – Abbasalutely
  • Chris Knox - Songs of You and Me
  • Neil Finn and Wayne Conway - Finn

See: 1996 in music

• Benny Award presented by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand to Keith Leggett.

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 commercial arm to Clear Channel creating The Radio Network

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

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

See: NZ Internet History

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

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

• The NBL was won by Auckland.

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

• New Zealand Open
• Check Category:New Zealand golfers in overseas tournaments.

• New Zealand Trotting Cup: Il Vicolo - 2nd win^[7]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Sharp And Telford^[8]

• Silver Ferns
• National Bank Cup

• New Zealand sends a team of 97 competitors.

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
3	2	1	6

• New Zealand sends a team of 30 competitors across seven sports.

Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
9	6	3	18

• 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.
• 5 October, New Zealand defeated Papua New Guinea 62-8
• 11 October, New Zealand defeated Papua New Guinea 64-0

The 1996 Great Britain Lions tour saw the three Tet matches played in New Zealand:

• 18 October, New Zealand defeated Great Britain 17-12
• 25 October, New Zealand defeated Great Britain 18-15
• 1 November, New Zealand defeated Great Britain 32-12

Category:Rugby union in New Zealand, Super 14, Rugby World Cup, National Provincial Championship, Category:All Blacks, Bledisloe Cup, Tri Nations Series, Ranfurly Shield

• Ballinger Belt – Graeme Ballinger (Levin)^[9]

• 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.
• The Chatham Cup is won by Waitakere City F.C. who beat Mt Wellington 3–1 in the final.^[10]