As we crawl to the end of a year that’s had its share of highs and lows for Aotearoa and the planet, we take a look back at some of the Kiwis who got New Zealanders talking in 2024.
Words: Pat McKendry, Anna Murray, Emily Simpson and Mariana Whareaitu
1. Golriz Ghahraman
The year kicked off with a feast of two of the country’s greatest passions: gossip and drama. Golriz Ghahraman – the bright, high-profile Green Party MP – was accused (and later convicted) of shoplifting expensive clothes from fancy stores. Across New Zealand, workplaces ground to a halt as people gathered to share their views on retail theft or confess to that one time they lost complete control at the pick ‘n’ mix. But Scotties! Those prices! The boutique frequented by the .1% became a household name and the question in most people’s minds was surely the same: What was Ghahraman thinking?
With time, the now former MP did her best to answer that question. She talked to John Campbell among others about the self-loathing and self-sabotaging state of mind she’d got into. She said that was essentially due to the persistent threats and online abuse she endured for years as a young, female, outspoken MP with an immigrant background. Cue another round of water-cooler viewpoints. But two things were indisputable: By highlighting the abuse, Ghahraman had shone a torch into a very dark corner of New Zealand. And, at least for the forseeable, the political career of an intelligent voice in parliament was over. – ES
2. Dai Henwood
While the country was in the thick of Covid lockdowns back in 2020, comedian Dai Henwood got the news nobody wants to hear – he had incurable bowel cancer.
It would be another three years before he finally revealed his diagnosis to the public during an episode of The Project NZ.
Henwood said he’d waited to talk about his health until he knew he could help others going through the same thing. “I didn’t [want to go public] when I was still in this raw, crying [phase],” he told Stuff.
But this year, he was ready to share his story more widely and help reframe the conversation around cancer. There was the three-part documentary series, Live and Let Dai, where Henwood left his audiences crying, rather than laughing. Then there was the book he managed to write with his old pal, Jaquie Brown, in between multiple cancer treatments.
He wrote about cancer making everything feel more heightened. “It’s like the diagnosis brings your life suddenly into sharp focus. I went for a walk soon after I found out, and the weirdest thing was rather than feeling this deep sadness, I found how beautiful the world looked.”
Henwood told RNZ he hoped other people living with cancer “really squeeze the sponge and squeeze every moment of life out. “And that doesn’t mean ticking [the] bucket list often, running around the world, and mortgaging your house to go to Disneyland,” he said. “It means just enjoying the moment and that could be sitting looking at a beautiful tree. It could be playing Snakes and Ladders with your kids; could be giving your spouse a real hug.
“You’re living, so live now.” – AM
3. Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke
Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke ripping the Treaty Principles Bill in half in Parliament will go down in history as one of the most gasp-inducing moments in Aotearoa New Zealand politics. Love it or hate it, it’s become a meme, a trend, and the action has even morphed into a ‘mana wave’ dubbed the ‘Hana wave’.
She’s inspired people by being herself in an environment that doesn’t often allow for cultural expression – and maybe it should?
Because the way she expresses herself in Parliament is authentically Māori. Don’t agree with what’s being said? Haka. Called out for being an impertinent young upstart? Rise to the occasion and give it back. As they say, tamaiti ako i te kāinga, tū i te marae, tau ana – a child who learns well at home, stands on the marae confidently, and no one can argue the confidence Maipi-Clarke exuded when she threw what was left of the bill on the ground as if it meant nothing at all.
One can only hope the pressures of the House with its austere halls and rigid colonial processes doesn’t extinguish the fire she brings to her role, because marae or parliament, home or abroad, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke is the moment. – MW
4. David Seymour
In a coalition government, the prime minister usually sets the tone and direction for the term.
But the person commanding the most attention in Parliament this year wasn’t the one with the top job.
That honour instead went to ACT leader David Seymour, who made the most of the long leash given to him by Christopher Luxon in 2024.
He was certainly one of the busier politicians at the Beehive. He released guidelines for parents to help them decide whether their child was too sick to go to school. He championed the return of charter schools. He freed the country’s school lunches programme from woke food, like sushi and quinoa.
And bubbling away in the background of all of that was his party’s Treaty Principles Bill – a piece of legislation that’s ultimately doomed to fail but still made an explosive entry in Parliament last month, sparking one of the biggest public demonstrations the country’s ever seen.
Next May, the most talked-about man in Parliament will take his turn at being deputy prime minister. The chances of him following in the footsteps of his predecessor and largely staying out of the headlines are slim to none.
And with Winston Peters being freed of the duties and title of Deputy PM, Christopher Luxon will likely be wrestling the political spotlight from not one, but two coalition partners keen to shape the narrative before another election year is upon us. – AM
5. Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po
Kīngi Tuheitia ki te rangi, ko Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po ki te whenua.
At the death of Kīngi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII his daughter, Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po ascended the throne.
For Kuini Nga wai, succeeding her father was never a given. The role isn’t hereditary, and she had two older brothers, not to mention relations, to contend with. But she was the popular choice among Māori and, as decided by the King’s iwi representative advisory council of the Tekau-maa-rua, became the people’s choice to lead.
However, before she was a queen, she was a princess, and a decade ago Kuini Nga wai appeared on Te Karere in a rare interview where she gave an insight into her life growing up. Fresh out of Te Wharekura o Rakaumangamanga, she was enrolled at Waikato University, enjoying a level of anonymity but still conscious of the fact that her actions would be under scrutiny. “Ko ō mātou mahi katoa, ka whakawātia e te nuinga o ngā tāngata (everything we do is being watched and judged),” she said at the time.
Now, all eyes are on her and you can only wonder what that might feel like for a young woman who once relished a degree of obscurity.
She’s expected to take up her father’s legacy of Kotahitanga (unity), but we won’t know what that will look like under her reign until her first Koroneihana (coronation celebration). In the meantime, she has been given the grace to mourn her father in peace and contemplate the future of the Kiingitanga. – MW
6. Liam Lawson
Sometimes, the big childhood dreams do come true.
Liam Lawson has been gunning for a fulltime Formula One spot since he took up karting at the age of seven, and 2024 was the year it happened.
The 22-year-old’s promotion within Red Bull Racing came in September at the expense of popular Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo, who was axed in the brutal fashion the sport is famous for.
With Red Bull Racing only confirming the New Zealander would drive for the rest of the 2024 season, Lawson knew he had one shot at stretching those career dreams. “There’s definitely not really any surety for the future, but at least I have the chance now to try and prove myself,” he told 1News in September.
And he’s certainly made a splash in that short time, with a few impressive results and some ruthless tactics that ruffled the feathers of more experienced F1 drivers.
While Lawson’s F1 future is still up in the air, there are whispers he could be promoted within the Red Bull team once again next year should they decide to cut the struggling Sergio Perez.
If Lawson does take over from Perez, the Kiwi would be racing alongside a four-time F1 world champion for 2025 – and career dreams don’t get much bigger than that. – AM
7. Tory Whanau
It’s probably safe to say Tory Whanau’s first term as Wellington’s first wahine Māori mayor has not played out as she hoped.
Her first year in office was dogged by public scrutiny of her drinking, something she would later seek professional help for, and what some of her colleagues described as dirty politics.
But Whanau’s second year in office has been even more eventful. The capital’s mayor hit the headlines for the minor (backtracking – twice – over whether she had sold her car to “help pay the bills”) and the major (the need to amend the Wellington’s Long-Term Plan and the subsequent Government appointment of a Crown observer to the council).
Whanau told Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills last month that she would be having conversations with her family and friends about running for mayor again, even if she still insisted “nothing [had] changed” in her plans to seek re-election.
“I love this city, and I’ll do whatever I can for it to stay on track,” she said.“There’s no doubt about it, this job has a lot of challenges, but … it doesn’t bother me how difficult it is; I just love this city too much.” – AM
8. Lydia Ko
She won the British Open at the home of golf and three times on tour in total, but the major highlight this year for Lydia Ko will likely to be a favourite sporting memory for many New Zealanders too – her gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Ko, who won her first LPGA title as an amateur when she was 15 and rose to No.1 in the world for the first time at 17, shed tears on the podium after going through an extended form slump prior to the Olympics.
“The tears were not just because of that moment, but everything that’s happened in my career,” the 27-year-old Ko said.
The victory in Paris gave her the full set of Olympic medals – she won silver in Rio de Janeiro and bronze in Tokyo.
It also confirmed her entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame for a remarkable individual who began playing golf on Auckland’s North Shore before she was old enough to attend primary school.
“Hearing my national anthem was incredible,” she told Forbes magazine. “There’s no other occasion where you can replicate that feeling. It’s not just for yourself; it’s much more than that.” – PM
9. Emily Perkins
You may not know it but you’re living in the era of the female-midlife-crisis novel, with multiple titles jostling to lead the way, from Miranda July’s incendiary All Fours (still processing some of those sex scenes) to Sarah Manguso’s terrible in my opinion Liars (so much moaning! If I was your husband I’d leave too). And then there’s our own Emily Perkins who showed that when it comes to writing about bad marriages and menopausal revelations, Aotearoa foots it with the best.
Lioness was really last year’s book but this year the accolades rained: Perkins won the top prize of $65,000 at the 24 Ockham NZ Book Awards (that’s the equivalent of pro golf money in the book scene); one of the world’s best-selling writers Marian Keyes raved about Lioness on her Instagram; and now a TV adaptation is reported to be in the works by some of the same people who adapted Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers. Interesting that a book with a central theme of money, money, money turned out to be a pot of gold. – ES
10. Nicola Willis
A cost of living crisis. Widespread job losses. General economic woe. 2024 had it all. And walking a tightrope through all of that was new Finance Minister Nicola Willis.
She faced the same burning question for much of the year: would she still be able to deliver her party’s promised tax cuts while balancing the Government’s books in her first budget?
The answer, after five long months of will-she-or-won’t-she, was yes.
But while the headlines on May 30 were dominated by who was getting a tax cut and by how much, the 2024 Budget also contained some unpleasant realities. The economic forecasts were worse than expected, and the axe would need to be taken to public services.
Willis had already asked all government departments to find a combined $1.5 billion in savings back in January. Some of those cost savings were revealed in the budget, with many programmes cut and some ministries allocated zero funding. The effects of those cost-saving demands would be felt for the rest of the year, as the numbers of public servants losing their job soared to almost 8000 – and counting.
While inflation is back within the band now, Willis might struggle to find much else positive to talk about as the new year begins. According to the latest Treasury forecasts, the economic outlook is even gloomier than what the budget was based on. With Treasury’s Chief Economic Adviser Dominick Stephens warning this “[increases] the challenge for the Government in balancing its books”, it looks like the tricky tightrope Willis has been walking is getting thinner with every step. – AM
11. Scott Robertson
Scott Robertson finally began the job he has craved for years and, after a close 2-0 series victory over England at home in July, ran into uncharted territory when assistant coach Leon MacDonald called it quits in the days after the All Blacks’ defeat to Argentina in Wellington in August.
It was an unprecedented series of events and put the focus firmly on the charismatic Robertson, who had swept all before him at Super Rugby level, but who had never coached in the international arena.
Fortunately for the All Blacks and Robertson, New Zealand gained a measure of revenge against the Pumas at Eden Park a week later which made the news that MacDonald was stepping away easier to deliver.
Or at least MacDonald, who had coached alongside Robertson previously, could not be painted as a scapegoat, and all parties were eager to make clear that the decision was mutual and due to a difference of coaching philosophies.
One of the biggest surprises is that MacDonald’s exit was just that – a surprise – which suggested the issue was well handled by Robertson and company, although MacDonald’s version of events has yet to be revealed to the media.
Robertson’s men won 10 of 14 Tests in 2024, two losses in South Africa and one against France in Paris adding to that collapse against Argentina, which will be the toughest loss for the head coach to reflect on over the summer.
The final three defeats were all close – within one score – and the All Blacks led all four Tests they lost at halftime.
Their finishing and consistency let them down, issues confirmed by Robertson at season end when he said: “We’ve played some awesome footy. I’ll say that honestly. We’ve played some incredible halves – 40, 50, 60 minutes. We just haven’t finished.” – PM
12. Eru Kapa-Kingi
You might recognise Eru Kapa-Kingi as the face and voice of the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, a role he’s run with every step of the 9-day long hīkoi. Naturally, people have come to associate him as the leader of the monumental movement but in an interview on Breakfast he was quick to distribute credit to the leadership group of Toitū Te Tiriti for orchestrating the historic event.
Regardless, his ability to capture attention and inspire people to join the hīkoi cannot be overlooked. His vision of a Hawaiki hou (new horizon) where the liberation of “all peoples living in Aotearoa” relies on Māori liberation seemed to resonate with the masses at Parliament. “If Te Tiriti is well, if tangata whenua is well, then we are all well,” he preached.
That was followed up with a call for Māori to whip out their phones and “get on the bloody [Māori] roll right now.” And is it any coincidence that the Māori electoral roll grew to more than 3000 following the hīkoi? Talk about power and influence. As a former Te Pāti Māori candidate, it all bodes well for a second tilt at a seat should he want it. – MW
13. Pauline Hanna
The things most of us like to keep out of sight, tucked into drawers and bathroom cabinets, hidden behind passwords and pin numbers, all of that was spilled out and raked over this year in the trial for the murder of Pauline Hanna. The world could and did read daily updates on what she cooked, ate, drank, weighed, earned, spent and emailed. The pills she swallowed, the friends she met. We could listen to her wine-fuelled confessions, analyse her late-night Google searches: “HOW DO YOU KEEP SANE WHEN YOUR HUSBAND IS HAVING AN AFFAIR,” she typed. Also, “What does P look like?”
From the exhaustive detail, a picture emerged, not just of an expensively groomed and driven career woman, though she was all of that, but of a vulnerable troubled human who cared about a long list of people, not least the husband found not guilty of her murder. “I still have bucket loads of love,” she wrote to him. “I think you do too.” – ES
