Community advocates say the $9000 spent on four census gang hui where 364 whānau filled out their forms was money well spent and will make it easier for generational changes for future data collections.
The National Party yesterday criticised census for hosting gang members at four separate hui.
National’s statistics spokesman Simon Watts said using $9087 from a $300 million budget to entice gang members to fill in their forms was a waste of money and effort.
“Gang numbers are up 66 per cent since 2017, and now we have a situation where Labour is happy to spend hard-earned taxpayer money on people who actively break the law and intimidate Kiwis up and down the country.
“Statistics Minister Deborah Russell needs to explain why New Zealanders who did the right thing and who filled out their census on time as required by law, now have their hard-earned money going on ‘census support events’ for gang members.”