Maori Council calls for CENSUS to be re-run: Chief Statistician Steps Down
The New Zealand Maori Council has welcomed the resignation of the chief statistician after the debacle that was the last
CENSUS. Council Executive Director, Matthew Tukaki, was one of the first to point out the potential impacts on Maori
when it comes to funding and more. Tukaki has not stopped and said the former Government and its former Minister must
also be held to account for a gross underfunding and underestimation of the work of the last CENSUS:
“I have to say good on the Chief Statistician for taking the bull by the horns and resigning. While yes she presided
over a mess and an underrepresentation of Maori in the last set of data the reality is she took the door and did what
you would expect her to do.” Tukaki said
“On the other hand the former National Government and its current leader, Simon Bridges, have been left wanting. It was
under the watch of that Government that this slow moving train wreck began to unfold and one has to ask exactly what
sort of economic and fiscal credentials some of the have if they can’t even run a statistics outfit.” Tukaki said
“What has to happen is the CENSUS should be re-run. If all New Zealanders, Maori chief among them, are to have
confidence in the data and confidence in the Government agency responsible for collecting and managing it then there is
no other choice.” Tukaki said
“As I said in December last year; “Now we find out that not only was the whole thing a bit of a debacle but we could be
dealing with heavily corrupted data sets that mean once again Maori will be left out.” Tukaki said.
ends