Census ‘threats’ decried

A glitch in the system has meant thousands of New Zealanders are being told to complete their census forms, despite having already done so.

West Auckland’s Erin Kingsleigh-Smith said there has obviously been some sort of ‘‘cockup’’ in the system after she was harassed by census officials.

‘‘You assume these things are reliable but obviously they have some teething problems. What I do object to is the threatening notices saying ‘you must complete it’ when I already have.’’

2018 Census general manager Denise McGregor said about 3000 cases had been identified where people were asked to fill out the census, even though they had already completed it.

The reasons for the alerts varied, including households which completed some of the individual forms, but not a dwelling form; cases where letters have been misdelivered to the wrong address; or addresses where there was a record of more than one dwelling at the address.

Kingsleigh-Smith said she completed her family’s online census forms almost received them.

After that, she tossed out the left-over bits of paper and went on with her life.

‘‘However, a couple of weeks ago I received a pack with a letter saying that my census was overdue. I just ignored it thinking it was a mistake,’’ she said.

‘‘Then a couple of days ago I received another pack with a card saying a Census officer had called at the house.’’

Posting on social media, numerous people have recounted similar experiences of being harassed by Census staff, despite completing their forms.

A Christchurch woman, who declined to be named, said she received three visits by Census workers to her home, four written reminders and three phone calls – despite having filled in her forms.

The census was held on March 6 and was an official count of how many people and dwellings there were in New Zealand.

This year Stats NZ encouraged ‘‘digital-first’’ participation in the hopes at least 70 per cent of New Zealanders would log on. as soon as she