Officials fear anti-government sentiment could impact next census
Officials fear that anti-government sentiment will undermine next year’s census.
“Fake websites” are one of 16 key risks identified in the briefings released under the Official Information Act.
Briefings by Stats NZ to ministers show it is engaged in a $100,000 “national trust and confidence marketing campaign – focusing on myth-busting and managing disinformation about [the] census”.
The department cannot afford another poor census: 2013 massively undercounted Māori, and 2018 tried to do the count mostly online resulting in Māori and Pasifika response rates plummeting.
The new threats are emerging several months after the Parliament occupation and protests.
As TDB predicted back in 2018, the online Census was a total failure, let’s remember, Census 2018 was a cost cutting measure to try and make it cheaper, but without a person coming to your door and actually identifying you and prompting you to fill the form in, a lot of NZers didn’t bother.
Back in 2018, months before it was apparent that the online census had been a total failure, Stats NZ were continuing to claim it was a great triumph…
When Stuff asked Stats NZ in July what went wrong, it did not answer the question but instead said: “We’re pleased with the online response and performance of the online system for 2018 census. Eighty two per cent of responses received were online which surpasses our target of 70 per cent.”
…so how did Stats NZ intend to recover from this self inflicted fuck up? Why the good old Compulsory Survey…
Take this survey, or else – Stats NZ threatens busy woman with prosecution
A Statistics New Zealand employee appears to have threatened a Hamilton woman with prosecution for not filling out a survey.
The woman’s partner, who asked to remain anonymous, posted a photo of the threat on Facebook.
“This is a compulsory govt survey. I am the local area leader for Stats NZ and we will pursue prosecution if you fail to comply,” the note reads.
“We are somewhat dismayed at you refusing to talk to [us].”
The threat was scrawled on a note bearing an official Statistics NZ letterhead. The pre-printed message reads: “You have been selected to participate in a Statistics New Zealand survey. Sorry I missed you when I called today.”
..that’s right, Stats NZ will threaten randomly selected families to fill out their compulsory survey or else risk prosecution so they can fill in the enormous gaps left by their online abortion.
The problem now in 2022 post Covid and the disinformation virus is that the feral anti-Government sentiment will see many simply threaten Census workers and will refuse point blank to fill in the forms.
How we choose to punish those who refuse to fill in the Census will matter.
Rather than threatening people, it has to be framed as a positive experience, that is totally safe in terms of the State having all that personal information and how important it is to build for the future.
If the Government come in threatening the stick and pointing out all the painful things it can do to compel you to fill in the Census, it will spark an eruption of fury and radicalisation, remember this will be taken in the deepest, darkest part of the oncoming recession so tensions will be even higher than they are now.
I think a smarter approach will be to simply accept that parts of the community are so Qanon antivax Sovereign Sheriff now that they won’t fill in the Census and that attempting to compel or punish them will be extremely counter productive.
We have to acknowledge that we have lost the trust and faith of parts of our Community, rebuilding that relationship can’t be using the stick.
That won’t work.
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It’s fair to say the census is not going to work, framed in the positive or otherwise. It requires huge cooperation and faith and that’s been found wanting lately. They’ll have to look at another way of planning ahead especially if the census is online, again, expect a similar or bigger failure.
Sadly, those mandatory vaccinations, apparently for the good of all, came at a sizeable permanent cost of buy in with the government. But they aren’t all the blame, good ol’ can’t be arsed goes right in here as well. Hence door to door was used, it worked!
Adding to the ferals’ anxiety is that this government has legislation that made it easier for Stats NZ to share data with other government agencies. I think that the former Chief Statistician opposed the new info sharing legislation.
From memory the 2018 census website had poor security and stored your responses on servers outside of New Zealand. Add to that you had to go through an involved phone process to get regular physical forms instead, it wasn’t as simple as printing them or ordering them online.
Why are those that are over this government ‘feral ‘ anti – this or that? Can they not just be ‘anti’ this or that? Is there a reason they need to be dehumanised?
“The problem now in 2022 post Covid and the disinformation virus is that the feral anti-Government sentiment will see many simply threaten Census workers and will refuse point blank to fill in the forms.
How we choose to punish those who refuse to fill in the Census will matter.”
We can choose to punish those who refuse to fill in the Census like we punish the ram raiders, the head in bashers, the serial rapists, the drunk driving killers and maimers, the family harm doers, the food stealers, the neighbor terrorizers, the drug peddlers…….. Not at all.
The coppers and our other law and justice enforcers have no issues with that. I mean 9 month home D for four rapes vs ‘feral anti government’ refusing to fill in a form. How would you punish someone that refuses to comply with a government order of filling out some paperwork? Maybe 10 years in a hard labour camp? Maybe some extra time thrown in for being a super duper extra special ‘feral’ anti government – anti jacinda government – barely human being?
Nah, it will be a week’s Home Detention for everyone and no-one will be checking on compliance anyway…
Compulsory surveys have long existed, they have nothing to do with census failures. Even if you can point to one that does, a 2017 survey couldn’t possibly be a follow up to the 2018 census.
I’m a lefty and I’m not filling it in unless they’ve managed to work out the difference between…race, ethnicity and nationality…failing to do this makes the results ridiculous…I know the fashionable reason why they fudge it but a census is supposed to be science, well stats anyway.
The idiots are a very small percent. Though being an ex-Stats NZ compulsory interviewer I just warned off a newbie here in Gisborne on your basis. Never did a census myself — the stress made me quit after a year ,fifteen years ago.
You’re not a lefty by my book. But you are a regular Left Blog commenter if that’s any help.
Hi Martin
It won’t work for a more pedestrian reason too (not at all discounting your points above however.) I applied for a senior census collector job. For the sake of the story I am a fit recent retiree and have postgraduate qualifications and oodles of administrative experience. I was ‘Just what we are looking for” until I queried the $27.50 per hour for this ‘mid-senior” (I was told) contract job. The remuneration structure was set and not negotiable. I thought this was the fair pay govt. But even that low rate was not what annoyed me. It was the ‘donate us ten k a day before it was possible to make a miliage claim of around 70c a k (not enough), the ‘no recompense for working over the 40 hours a week’ though clearly that was expected over seven days a week, no recompense for use of personal technology or home office, and a possible (if was ‘good’) 10% completion bonus. ALSO no ability to take a colleague to home visits with possibly agro people, or in the evening
I expressed my dissatisfaction with this structure and was quickly told I was over qualified. Amazing. I am picking STATS NZ will NOT get enough workers and complain of the lack of work force without admitting the exploitative and potentially dangerous conditions being offered.
WHAT FAIR PAY AGREEMENT GOVT – it is an appalling employer.
Meant to add that there was to be no holiday pay either. R
I think it could work, if they involved the communities long before kicking off. Have census days like the ones in Auckland for vaxing etc with festivities planned or hire Maori elders etc to round up or visit local people.
It’ll be expensive but if they can get a whole lot of other people voting online and they must have some info on this, then the ones that need to be chased down will be less and hopefully, more doable.
The idiots are a very small percent. Though being an ex-Stats NZ compulsory interviewer I just warned off a newbie here in Gisborne on your basis. Never did a census myself — the stress made me quit after a year ,fifteen years ago.