Man 'freezes himself' to avoid census

A census-objector claimed he was cryogenically frozen in a freezer and pronounced "legally dead" to avoid filling in yesterday's census.

This morning he woke up in his own bed in his house truck with a splitting headache and slight cold but otherwise none the worse for wear after the stunt in Hamilton's Garden Place.

As it was, Laird McGillicuddy Graeme Cairns had no census forms to fill in anyway, as he had recently moved into the house truck and had not been found by the census staff.

This was just the latest census-avoiding stunt for Mr Cairns. In 1986 he claimed he was possessed by the spirit of an ancient ape and was not legally a person. This failed in court.

In 1991 he filled out his form in Latin and nailed it to a tree. In 1996 he hovered over Garden Place in a hot air balloon and was deemed to be out of New Zealand's legal air space. In 2001 he was genuinely absent, in Australia tending to a dying friend.

He now has five years to work on his next stunt, which he says could involve either time travel or hypnosis so he believed himself a turnip, not a person.

Meanwhile, leader of the Libertarianz political party Bernard Darnton said about 15 members and up to 20 others gathered in Wellington's Botanic Gardens last night and incinerated their forms with the help of a fire-breather.

In the Far North a barbecue was held with "both sausages and census forms" being put on the grill, and a similar event was held in Christchurch.

"What we ultimately object to is the fact that the census is compulsory," Mr Darnton said.

"Somebody can show up on your doorstep, ask personal questions and if it was an ordinary person you could tell them to go to hell, which would be the sensible response," he said.

"Because it's somebody from the government you're compelled under threat of punishment to fill it in."

Mr Darnton said there were two responses to the argument that the government needed to hold a census to gather vital information about the population.

"The first is the practical response which is actually they don't need to gather that information through a census."

Germany did not have a census and seemed to be able to plan just fine, he said.

"The second is a more moral argument that even if that information is useful they're still gathering it in a way that they shouldn't. They're still using compulsion when simply asking nicely would probably work perfectly well."

Those who burned forms now faced the prospect of $500 fines, which would increase by $20 for every day the forms continued to not be filled in, he said.

"The area collector is going to come to my house, ask for the form, I will tell them that I've burnt it and then I will wait and see what the response is."

At the last census Mr Darnton took a similar stand. He was given another chance to complete the form and filled in the first five questions, leaving the rest blank.

"That was regarded as acceptable or too much trouble to do anything more with," he said.

Mr Darnton knew people who had been taken to court and fined in previous years.

"If it comes to being taken to the district court we'll go and make the point again that we object to the compulsory nature of the census."

Government Statistician Brian Pink said yesterday the census was an invaluable national resource.

He said the "five-yearly picture" allowed community groups, businesses and government to make planning decisions.

Statistics New Zealand is employing 6500 census collectors. It has printed more than four million forms. Collection of the completed forms begins today.

- NZPA