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| 1961 |
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| The Hunn report highlighted economic and social inequalities between Maori and Pakeha (people of European origin). After World War II the Maori population grew and became increasingly urbanized, leading to social dislocation. | 1 |
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| 1962, Jan. 1 |
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| Western Samoa became independent. | 2 |
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| 1964 |
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| The Cook Islands gained self-government in all spheres except defense and some aspects of foreign policy (See 1964). | 3 |
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| 1965 |
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| A small contingent of New Zealand soldiers was sent to Vietnam. Some were withdrawn in 1971; the last contingent was withdrawn in 1972. The New Zealand–Australia Free Trade Agreement strengthened trade across the Tasman. | 4 |
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| 1960s–70s |
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| Immigration of labor from the Pacific islands, mostly into low-wage work in the cities. | 5 |
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| 1971 |
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| New Zealand joined the South Pacific Forum. | 6 |
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| 1972 |
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| Equal pay for men and women doing the same work was brought into force. Labour won the election under the leadership of Norman Kirk. | 7 |
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| 1973 |
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| New Zealand's protests at French nuclear testing in the South Pacific included an unsuccessful application to the International Court of Justice to halt the tests and the dispatch of frigates to the test site. | 8 |
| Britain's entry into the European Economic Community adversely affected New Zealand's external trade situation, contributing to New Zealand's poor economic performance in the 1970s and 1980s. | 9 |
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| 1975 |
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| In the general election, the National Party came to power under Robert Muldoon, a populist conservative leader. The Muldoon years coincided with a period of economic decline, extensive state interference in the economy, and, in the early 1980s, investment in expensive development projects. | 10 |
| In the 1975 Maori Land March, activists walked through the North Island to protest injustices relating to land. This was one of a series of protest actions relating to Maori rights in the 1970s and 1980s, including the occupation of former Maori land at Bastion Point in Auckland, which culminated in the arrest of protesters in 1978 and annual protests on the anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. Mana Motuhake, a Maori political party seeking greater Maori self-determination, was formed in 1980. | 11 |
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| 1976 |
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| New Zealand's rugby team toured South Africa, and several African nations boycotted the Olympic Games in protest. The government established a scheme of universal superannuation, under which all retired individuals received 80 percent of the average wage. Coinciding with an aging population and low economic growth, this scheme was a substantial financial burden. Dawn raids and random street checks were carried out on Pacific islanders suspected of staying in the country past the time limits of their visas. | 12 |
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| 1981 |
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| A tour of New Zealand by the South African Springbok rugby team led to protests and civil disruption throughout the country. | 13 |
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| 1982 |
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| Establishment of the first Kohanga Reo (Language Nest), a system of Maori language preschools, in an attempt to revive the Maori language. This movement symbolized a wider Maori cultural revival in the 1980s. The Te Maori exhibition of Maori art treasures, which toured in the U.S. and New Zealand between 1984 and 1987, was an important expression of this movement. Writing and art produced by Maori people also burgeoned in this period. | 14 |
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