The Stats report is the more damning one

I, like many, focused on the report by the Public Service Commissioner Inquiry when it was released. I’ve only now had time to go through the seperate report to Stats NZ into the misuse of census data, and it is arguably the more damning. Some of their findings include:

• We were advised that this report was incorrect and unverified. In fact, no confidentiality certificates were completed by any of the people required to do so under the contract.
• While we have seen insinuations about the credibility or motivation of the whistleblowers made public, we note that we found them credible witnesses and that many of the operational details they set out for us were subsequently corroborated by documentary evidence.
• Leaving census forms in an open envelope is completely contrary to Stats NZ policy and confidentiality processes, which require paper census forms to be sealed in front of the individual and placed immediately in the nearest post box. Stats NZ had gone to the extent of providing a list of geo-coded post boxes to WOCA for this purpose.
• We consider it more likely than not that unsealed envelopes were returned to Manurewa Marae. The Marae itself accepts that unsealed envelopes were returned in the final weeks of the contract.
• On balance, we find it more likely than not that some photocopying of census forms occurred.
• The training material provided by Stats NZ to WOCA on 18 May 2023 stated that census forms were never to be photocopied for any reason.
• Manurewa Marae kaimahi did not seal census forms in front of the individuals who completed them and instead returned the forms unsealed to the Marae
• Stats NZ staff member raising concerns about finding boxes of completed Census forms at Manurewa Marae after the contract period concluded.
• We have not been able to establish why the Marae kept completed forms after the census contract period

New Zealanders are obliged by law to complete the census. You can be fined (and some are) for not completing the census. The answers you give can be highly personal. Stats NZ tells us:

The information you provide will be held securely. Paper forms will be processed and kept in a secure storage facility.

All staff, including census collectors, sign a confidentiality certificate before they begin working for Stats NZ. This is a lifetime obligation, meaning they must keep your information safe. If they did disclose any information, they can be prosecuted.

Almost the exact opposite happened. There were no confidential certificate signed. Envelopes were not sealed. The paper forms were read by marae staff. They were left in non secure areas. Some remained there for a year after the census. And it is likely they were photo-copied.

If at the next census someone refused to complete the census and were prosecuted, they’d have a reasonable chance in court of getting off by arguing that they have no faith that the information they were asked to provide would be secure – on the basis of this report.

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