March 01, 2023
Population count critical for cyclone rebuild
Statistics New Zealand’s director Maori says it’s critical the census works for Maori in areas hardest hit by Cyclone Gabrielle.
The department has been given until May to complete the census in Taitokerau, Tairawhiti and Hawke’s Bay, with the count going ahead for the rest of the country on March 7.
Atawhai Tibble says even at this worst of times, the government needs accurate population counts to make funding decisions.
“If they’re going rebuild the east coast which has been really affected, Napier, Hastings better – you can’t fund invisible people. You can’t build bridges, or better roads, for invisible people. And census helps us become visible,” he says.
Mr Tibble says much has been learned from the failings of the 2018 Census, when the significant undercount of Maori meant a lot data ended up having to be reconstructed from sources outside of StatsNZ.