Older Kiwis do census online
AUCKLAND: More than half a million New Zealanders — including some aged 100 — have already filled their census papers in online, Stats NZ says.
The official 2018 census day, March 6, is still several days away, but people can fill out their forms early, census general manager Denise McGregor says.
‘‘If you know where you’re going to be staying on March 6, then you can complete the form before census day, if you prefer,’’ she said.
In a change from previous years, Stats NZ has made a big push to get as many census forms filled in online as possible.
It hopes up as many as 70% of census forms will be completed online, and Mrs McGregor said so far more people aged over 65 than those between 15 to 25 had completed the form.
‘‘Since February 19, when the online system opened, we’ve had responses from people aged up to 100 years, which is really encouraging,’’ she said.
‘‘We’re confident that people of all ages are finding the online forms quick and easy to complete.’’
Stats NZ has already posted most households in New Zealand a letter with an access code containing the information needed to fill in the census form online.
However, there had been some delays in Northland, West Coast, Tasman, and the Gisborne area due to flooding and slips caused by Cyclone Gita and their remote location, Mrs McGregor said.
They were expected to receive their codes before March 6.
Paper forms are still available for those who prefer them.
While census teams would not be knocking on household doors as in the past, they would visit places like hotels, hospitals, and camping grounds to help people fill in their forms, Mrs McGregor said.
‘‘There are also teams working in remote rural areas and with the homeless population,’’ she said. — NZN
A WAITAKI district councillor has labelled the process to take part in the 2018 census a ‘‘shambles’’ that may adversely impact Waitaki’s future.
Statistics New Zealand has moved most of the census online and about half a million people have already filed in their details.
Access codes have been mailed to every home in the country, which people will use to enter their information online.
People do have the option of filling out paper forms, as opposed to completing the census online, but Cr Peter Garvan said people should have been sent paper forms as well as an online code, to give them both options instead of having to specifically request paper forms.
‘‘My problem is that instead of sending out a paper form and giving people the choice of whether to go online, they have to ring an 0800 number for it. A lot of people haven’t got their forms yet and they’re told that you’ve got to do it by Tuesday and that’s actually not correct.
‘‘The risk is people will say ‘I haven’t got my letter — will I bother? I’ve only got until Tuesday, so it’s too tight’.’’
Cr Garvan said Waitaki had large elderly and Pasifika populations, many of whom were not computer literate, which could put Waitaki ‘‘on the back foot’’ in terms of accurate information being gathered.
There were similar concerns before the 2013 census, more focused on the Pasifika community, when Waitaki was selected to trial the census online.
In that year’s census 471 people in the district identified themselves as Pasifika, a figure many in the community viewed as too low.
It is estimated there are at least 1000 Tongan people alone living in Waitaki.
Cr Garvan said he was yet to receive his own paper forms, and he believed the process to fill out this year’s census was ‘‘poor and not userfriendly’’.
‘‘Instead of having a twotier system . . . they’ve made it more difficult for people to do it by paper.
‘‘The shambles which is unfolding could have been avoided if all homes had been sent a paper census and given a free choice to file online or by paper. I think it will be a shambles, absolutely. I don’t doubt it at all. The mandate should have been to get the best possible information by using paper and online. They’ve skewed it in favour of online and made it more difficult for some people to actually do it.’’
A Citizens Advice Bureau North Otago staff member, who did not wish to be named, said the organisation had fielded several calls from elderly members of the pub lic who did not realise they could request paper forms and were concerned they would not be able to fill them out and send them before Tuesday.
In a statement, 2018 census general manager Denise McGregor said forms received after March 6 would still be processed.
‘‘We expect to have delivered codes to everyone by census day. Anyone who wants to take part by paper, but who got their access code later than other parts of New Zealand, will still be able to respond after census day.’’
After March 6, all households yet to complete their census forms would be contacted by letter.
Households which still had not completed forms after those reminders would be visited by field teams.
If people still refused to take part after these visits, Statistics New Zealand would consider prosecution under the Statistics Act 1975, the census website said.