Samantha Motion: The big question the 2023 New Zealand Census didn’t ask but will still answer

Millions of New Zealanders will fill their census out online. Photo / Bevan Conley

OPINION

Just like that, another census is done - at least for those of us whose lives haven’t been upended by Cyclone Gabrielle (hard-hit areas have a few more months).

After the debacle of the 2018 Census - which had the lowest response rate in more than 50 years at 83.3 per cent and cost millions of dollars to fix - the reputation of New Zealand’s statistical authority, Stats NZ, hangs on the success of this survey.

There are more than twice as many survey collectors and strategies being employed to make sure communities poorly served during the last collection get better support this time.

Hopefully, this means the data collected in this five-yearly compulsory headcount will be high quality and it will not again take a year and a half to share the results.

As it aims to “rebuild trust and confidence”, Stats NZ has set itself a response goal of at least 90 per cent, with the first data released in just over a year.

We should have some interesting metrics to look forward to.

For areas such as the Bay of Plenty, the data will help tell a story of growth - a story we need to be told to help secure Government investment at the level we need. It’s not just about whether it has more people and houses, but how its housing stock is used, how much of it is mouldy and how big the households are.

The question about how we get to work should offer insight into whether, for example, Tauranga remains New Zealand’s most car-dependent city.

If past census trends continue, data about faith will be less a question of whether Kiwis are still losing their religion and more of whether it’s a trickle or a flood.

In 1976, New Zealand was reportedly the first country to ask a question about smoking in its census. Nearly a half-century on, it can tell us about the country’s last cohort of smokers who will be able to nip to the dairy for a pack of darts, as future generations face a ban on cigarette sales.

Since the last census, Covid-19 hastened a revolution in how we work - do droves more white-collared workers now mostly work from home?

Statistics (damn statistics!) play a huge role in New Zealand life and in decisions made on our behalf - whether wielded by political policymakers, employers, banks considering mortgage applications or social media algorithms.

Kiwis need to be able to have faith that the data collected, analysed and used by our Government is reliable.

The census does not ask if those filling it out can count on the process, but the results will answer that question all the same.