What really happens to your census data?
What’s the issue?
Tuesday, March 7, is Census Day. It’s a day that comes around only once every five years. In theory, the census counts every person in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the places where they live or stay. (The deadline will be extended for areas impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.)
The data is used by national and local government agencies – along with iwi, community groups, businesses and researchers – to better understand populations and plan and fund services and infrastructure.
But there are concerns disinformation is threatening the integrity of the process and as a result, the data collected. And if the data is misrepresentative that’s bad news for all of us, but particularly minority groups.
It’s also worth noting that the Data and Statistics Act 2022 requires everyone in the country to participate in the census. If you don’t participate, or you provide false or incomplete information, you can be fined.
What we found
Disinformation Project researcher Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa has been keeping tabs on the ‘‘mobilisation’’ of networks targeting democratic processes including the upcoming census. Just months after the antivaccine occupation and protests at Parliament last year, he warned growing anti-government sentiment posed a risk to the trust and confidence in the 2023 Census.
Fuelled by conspiracy theories, groups are sharing instructions on how to invalidate or ignore the forms.
‘‘The real problem is that it’s targeting the census as an exercise, and integral to democracy in New Zealand, including the formation of policies that reflect the population’s constitution, location, identity, needs and aspirations,’’ Hattotuwa says. ‘‘Henceforth, it’s going to be marred increasingly.’’
All of this comes as Stats NZ is under pressure to improve response rates. The 2018 Census response rates generally and for Māori and Pacific people in particular were ‘‘unacceptably low’’, Stats NZ admitted. They were also low in some rural areas.
Many of the poorly counted communities are among the most deprived in the country. If they’re undercounted, their needs might be underestimated during relevant decision-making processes.
An understanding of population dynamics helps the government distribute funds in an fair way: across welfare, education, healthcare, and so on.
Some data safety concerns stem from Stats NZ in 2018 encouraging people to participate online. But the data is well protected by legislation and safeguards put in place by Stats NZ.
The information you enter is encrypted as it travels from your browser and can only be ‘‘unlocked’’ when it reaches Stats NZ. There, only vetted staff can access the data by going through multiple layers of security.
Access to physical census forms is restricted to processing staff and the necessary IT support. They’re kept in a central storage warehouse; a secure facility under constant video surveillance. And after they’re scanned, the physical
forms are destroyed.
The Public Records Act 2005 requires census data to be retained for 100 years. Then, the custody of the forms passes to Archives New Zealand. However, the Government Statistician (the head of StatsNZ) will still control access to them.
If you’ve already started filling in your forms, or if you’ve done one before, you’ll know some of the questions are very personal.
It’s important to know the answers you give in the census are confidential to Stats NZ and no other government department or agency (such as Kāinga Ora, New Zealand Police, Immigration New Zealand and Inland Revenue) has the power to use information that could identify you. In short: The information you share can’t be used against you in any way.
All Stats NZ employees must sign a declaration of secrecy, which remains in effect for life.
Later, researchers who want to use the data must have an approved, public-interest reason for doing so. They can only see specific data relating to their research and all identifying information such as names and addresses is removed.
In summary
The conspiracies fuelling distrust in Stats NZ and other state agencies aren’t going to go away.
Census responses help shape our society and compromised data in the short-term risks undercounting some groups and in the long term risks the integrity of the data collection process, the results and consequential policymaking.
Bottom line: Stats NZ has a legal obligation to keep your census data confidential.
Reporting disclosure statement: This post was written with expert advice from Stats NZ.