The New Zealand royal honours system,a system of orders,decorations and medals,recognises achievements of,or service by,New Zealanders or others in connection with New Zealand. Until 1975,New Zealand used the British honours system. Since then the country has introduced a number of uniquely New Zealand honours,and as of 2021,only the dynastic British honours continue in active use in New Zealand,with the exception of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II,Queen of New Zealand,"for those persons who in any field of endeavour,have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence,talents,contributions or other merits",to recognise outstanding service to the Crown and people of New Zealand in a civil or military capacity.
Wyatt Beetham Creech is a retired New Zealand politician. He served as the 14th deputy prime minister of New Zealand in Jenny Shipley's National Party government from August 1998 to December 1999.
Murray John Finlay Luxton was a New Zealand National Party politician,serving as a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2002. From 2008 to 2015,he was the Chairman of DairyNZ,the organisation that represents all New Zealand dairy farmers. He was co-chair of the Waikato River Authority,a Crown/iwi co-governance organisation established through Treaty of Waitangi settlement legislation to clean up the Waikato River.
Sir Stephen Robert Tindall is the founder of New Zealand retailer The Warehouse,The Warehouse Group,and the Tindall Foundation.
Dame Lynley Stuart Dodd is a New Zealand children's book author and illustrator. She is best known for her Hairy Maclary and Friends series,and its follow-ups,all of which feature animals with rhyming names and have sold over five million copies worldwide. In 1999,Dodd received the Margaret Mahy Award.
Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae is a former New Zealand soldier who served as the 20th governor-general of New Zealand between 2011 and 2016,the second Māori person to hold the office,after Sir Paul Reeves. A former officer in the New Zealand Army,he was the Chief of the Defence Force from 2006 to 2011,and then served as the director of the New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau for five months in 2011. Following his term as governor-general,Mateparae was the high commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2020.
Sir Edmund Walter Thomas,widely known as Ted Thomas,is a New Zealand jurist. He is a retired judge of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand and a former acting judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
Sir Paul Terence Callaghan was a New Zealand physicist who,as the founding director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington,held the position of Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences and was President of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance.
Sir Dryden Thomas Spring is a New Zealand businessman,who was chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board from 1989 to 1998,chairman of New Zealand Dairy Group from 1982 to 1987,and chairman of ANZ New Zealand from 2007 to 2012.
Sir Mason Harold Durie is a New Zealand professor of Māori Studies and research academic at Massey University. He is known for his contributions to Māori health. In 2020,he was appointed to the Order of New Zealand,the highest honour in New Zealand's royal honours system.
Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie is a New Zealand jurist who served on the High Court of New Zealand between 1998 and 2004. He was the first Māori appointed as a judge of a New Zealand court.
Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro;née Simpson;born 1958) is a New Zealand public-health academic,administrator,and advocate,who has served as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori woman,the third person of Māori descent to hold the office.
Jacqueline Sara Rowarth is a New Zealand agronomist,dairy farmer and science administrator.
Donald George McLaren was a New Zealand businessman specialising in equine pharmaceuticals.
Sir Robert Kinsela Workman,commonly known as Kim Workman,is a New Zealand criminal justice advocate.
Dame Peggy Gwendoline Koopman-Boyden is a New Zealand gerontologist. A professor of social gerontology at the University of Waikato,she was accorded the title of professor emeritus when she retired in 2016.
Sir Peter John Trapski is a New Zealand jurist. He served as chief District Court judge between 1985 and 1989,and was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal from 1989 until 1993.
Dame Alison Mae Paterson is a New Zealand businesswoman. In 1979,she became the first woman to sit on the board of a publicly listed company in New Zealand.
Sir Henricus Wilhelmus van der Heyden is a New Zealand dairy farmer,business executive and company director. He was chair of Fonterra from 2002 to 2012.
