700,000 Kiwis didn't complete Census
The Ministry's chief statistician has reportedly told the country's politicians in a letter that 460,000 New Zealanders did not complete the Census - and 240,000 only partially completed it. Liz MacPherson has finally provided the full Census figures, more than a year since it was completed - after stonewalling Parliament's governance and administration committee over the number of partially and fully completed responses. Now the opposition is blasting the Government and calling for another Census. "It's been like drawing teeth to get information from Statistics New Zealand about the results," State Services spokesperson Nick Smith said. Smith says the record low response will not give the Government accurate results, and the problems with Census 2018 are not just the record low response rate - but a doubling in the partial response rate. That compounds the problems for the State Sector, which relies on hard data. "We now know over 700,000 people or one in seven New Zealanders did not complete Census 2018. This leaves a huge data hole that will create problems for years in allocating tens of billions of dollars in funding for central state services like health and education, as well as affecting electorate numbers and boundaries for Election 2020," Smith said. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday hit back at Smith, pointing out that it was the previous Government that made the decision to move to an online Census - which appears to have been part of the problem with the big drop in responses. But Smith isn't buying that. "Stats NZ needs to accept responsibility for the 2018 Census shambles. It cannot blame the funding when it was 36 percent greater than Census 2013 and when this budget was underspent. It cannot blame the digital strategy when Australia successfully delivered its 2016 Census with a 95 percent response rate using a similar strategy." Smith says Stats NZ botched the delivery of Census 2018 by excessively relying on online responses and providing insufficient neighbourhood backup for others. He's even calling for consideration to given to deferring the electoral boundary changes for 2020, as well as bringing forward the next Census to 2021.
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Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?
What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?
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37% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
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63% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
Scam Alert: Bank cold calls
ASB is warning customers about reports of cold calls from scammers claiming to be from ASB. These scammers are trying to obtain personal information, including usernames, dates of birth, and verification codes sent to your mobile phone.
🛡️ The "Caller Check" Test
If you get a call from someone claiming to be from ASB and you’re unsure, just ask them for a Caller Check. You will then be able to verify the call through the app.
Remember, banks will:
❌ Never ask for your banking passwords, PINs, or verification codes
❌ Never need to know your full credit card number – especially the CVC
❌ Never ask you to download software or remotely access your device
❌ Never ask you to purchase gift cards or transfer funds.
If you have received a phone call and think your account has been compromised, call ASB on 0800 ASB FRAUD (0800 272 372), or visit your local branch.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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