29 May 2026
Earlier this month, Rahui Papa and Kirikowhai Mikaere provided a clear message to the Justice Select Committee: the admin data-first approach for future census will be to the detriment of capture and data statistics for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Data And Statistics (Census) Amendment Bill Stats NZ will shift Aotearoa New Zealand from the traditional, survey-led census to an admin data-first approach that relies on:
Administrative data collected by government agencies
An annual survey of a small sample of the population (around 5%)
Tailored targeted surveys for priority communities, with Māori being one of six communities identified as ‘priority’.
In our oral submission Rahui Papa, Chairperson of the Data ILG and Te Kāhui Raraunga, and Kirikowhai Mikaere, Lead Technician for the Data ILG and Te Kāhui Raraunga, urged the committee to not allow the Bill to proceed until four conditions are met:
An independent review of the admin-data first model’s fitness for purpose is conducted.
Stats NZ commits to transparently implementing the Māori Data Governance Model.
Adequate, long-term Crown funding is set aside for iwi-designed data solutions that meet our data needs.
Independent assurance is provided to guarantee that Māori electoral rights will not be harmed through any change in census model.
Click here to read our full written submission.
Watch our oral submission:
Video source: Office of the Clerk/Parliamentary Service. Licensed by the Clerk of the House of Representatives and/or the Parliamentary Corporation on behalf of Parliamentary Service for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Full licence available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0