This Act may be cited as the Statistics Amendment Act 1985, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Statistics Act 1975 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

2 Interpretation

Section 2 of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the definition of the expression “employee of the Department”, and substituting the following definition:

“‘Employee of the Department’, means any person employed in or by the Department, whether permanently or temporarily, and includes any person employed under section 19 of this Act:”.

3 Employment of persons for collection of statistics

The principal Act is hereby amended by repealing section 19, and substituting the following section:

“19

“(1)

The Statistician may employ from time to time—

“(a)

Such interviewers, agents, and other persons as may be necessary for the collection of such statistics and information as are authorised by this Act; and

“(b)

Such census regional controllers, census area managers, census district supervisors, census enumerators, and other persons as may be necessary for the purposes of Part III of this Act.

“(2)

The duties of the persons appointed under subsection (1) of this section shall be such as the Statistician determines.

“(3)

No person shall be deemed by reason only of his employment under this section to be employed in the service of Her Majesty for the purposes of the State Services Act 1962 or the Superannuation Act 1956.”

4 Census of population and dwellings

Section 23(3) of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “enumerators and sub-enumerators”, and substituting the words “census district supervisors”.

5 Duty of persons to obtain census schedule

Section 25 of the principal Act is hereby amended—

(a)

By omitting the word “enumerator”, and substituting the words “census district supervisor”; and

(b)

By omitting the word “sub-enumerator”, and substituting the words “census enumerator”.

6 Duty of occupier and other persons abiding in dwelling

Section 26(3)(including the proviso) of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the word “sub-enumerator” in both places where it appears, and substituting in each case the words “census enumerator”.

7 New sections substituted

(1)

The principal Act is hereby amended by repealing section 37 (as amended by section 10 of the Statistics Amendment Act 1982) and substituting the following sections:

“37 Security of information

“(1)

Information furnished to the Statistician under this Act shall only be used for statistical purposes.

“(2)

No person other than an employee of the Department who has made the statutory declaration specified in section 21 of this Act shall be permitted to see any individual schedule or any answer to any question put under this Act except for the purposes of a prosecution or a proposed prosecution under this Act.

“(3)

No information contained in any individual schedule and no answer to any question put for the purposes of this Act shall, except for the purposes of a prosecution or a proposed prosecution under this Act, be separately published or disclosed to any undertaking or to any person not being an employee of the Department who has made the statutory declaration specified in section 21 of this Act.

“(4)

All statistical information published by the Statistician shall be arranged in such a manner as to prevent any particulars published from being identifiable by any person (other than the person by whom those particulars were supplied) as particulars relating to any particular person or undertaking, unless—

“(a)

That person or the owner of that undertaking has consented to their publication in that manner, or has already permitted their publication in that manner; or

“(b)

Their publication in that manner could not reasonably have been foreseen by the Statistician or any employee of the Department.

“(5)

For the purposes of subsection (4) of this section the Statistician shall make such office rules as he considers necessary.

“(6)

Subsections (2) and (3) of this section apply notwithstanding any provision contained in the Customs Act 1966, the Inland Revenue Department Act 1974 or any other Act.

“37a Statistician authorised to disclose certain information

Notwithstanding section 37 of this Act, the Statistician may disclose the following information—

“(a)

Information supplied by a person or undertaking in respect of which disclosure is consented to in writing by the person, or a competent officer of the undertaking, who or which supplied it:

“(b)

Information available to the public under any Act or public document:

“(c)

Information in the form of an index or list of the names and addresses of individual undertakings, together with the industrial classification allotted to them and the number of persons engaged:

“(d)

Details of external trade, movement of ships, and cargo handled at ports:

“(e)

With the approval of the Minister, such particulars respecting individual fire, accident, and life insurance offices as are desirable in the public interest, not being information received through the Inland Revenue Department:

“(f)

Information supplied by a local authority.

“37b Disclosure of information collected jointly

Notwithstanding section 37 of this Act, particulars of any information collected jointly with a Government Department, local authority, or statutory body (whether corporate or unincorporated), pursuant to an agreement under section 9 of this Act and information collected under any enactment other than this Act and processed by the Department may be disclosed to that Government Department, local authority, or statutory body, and a completed or partly completed schedule obtained or an answer to any question put in the course of a joint collection, may be disclosed to any employee of that Government Department, local authority, or statutory body who has made a statutory declaration similar to the declaration of secrecy prescribed by section 21 of this Act.

“37c Disclosure of individual schedules to other Government Departments for bona fide research or statistical purposes

“(1)

Notwithstanding section 37 of this Act, the Statistician may disclose individual schedules to any officer of another Government Department solely for bona fide research or statistical purposes pursuant to the functions and duties of that Government Department.

“(2)

No individual schedule shall be disclosed pursuant to this section unless—

“(a)

The name and address of the person or undertaking by whom the schedule was supplied is deleted; and

“(b)

Every person involved in the research or statistical project makes a statutory declaration similar to the declaration of secrecy prescribed by section 21 of this Act; and

“(c)

The Statistician is satisfied that the security of the schedules and any information contained in them will not be impaired.

“(3)

The published results of any such research or statistical project shall not divulge any more information than the Statistician could publish under this Part of this Act.

“(4)

Every officer of a Government Department to whom any individual schedule is disclosed pursuant to this section, and that Government Department, shall comply with any directions given by the Statistician relating to the schedule and the information contained in it.

“37d Disclosure of historical documents

Notwithstanding section 37 of this Act, documents relating to individual schedules which have been the subject of an agreement between the Statistician and the Chief Archivist and classified as historical documents may be released to the Archivist by the Statistician after a period of 100 years.

“37e Security of recorded information

In respect of the statistical information which the Statistician collects pursuant to this Act, where such information from individual schedules, worksheets, or any other confidential source is to be copied or recorded by means of cards, tapes, discs, wires, films, or any other method, whether using encoded or plain language symbols for the processing, storage, or reproduction of particulars, the Statistician is hereby empowered to take and shall take such steps as are necessary to ensure that the security provisions in this Act are complied with.

“37f Power of Statistician to release information to New Zealand Meat Producers Board and New Zealand Wool Board

“(1)

For the purposes of this section,—

“‘Farmer’ means a person owning not less than 100 sheep, or owning not less than 100 cattle carried exclusively for the purposes of beef production:

“‘Meat Board’ means the New Zealand Meat Producers Board established under the Meat Export Control Act 1921–22:

“‘Wool Board’ means the New Zealand Wool Board established under section 4 of the Wool Industry Act 1977:

“‘Wool grower’ means a person carrying on business as a sheep farmer and owning not less than 100 sheep.

“(2)

Notwithstanding section 37 of this Act, but subject to subsection (3) of this section, the Statistician is authorised—

“(a)

To supply, from time to time, to the Meat Board an index or list of the names and addresses of farmers; and

“(b)

To supply, from time to time, to the Wool Board an index or list of the names and addresses of wool growers.

“(3)

Disclosure, pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, of the name and address of any farmer or wool grower may take place only where—

“(a)

The schedule completed by that farmer or wool grower—

“(i)

States that the Statistician is authorised in accordance with this section to disclose the name and address of any person as a farmer or wool grower unless that person objects in the manner prescribed by the schedule or in writing to such disclosure; and

“(ii)

States the purposes for which any information disclosed under this section may be used; and

“(b)

That farmer or wool grower does not object in the manner prescribed by the schedule or in writing to the disclosure of his name and address.

“(4)

The Meat Board shall use the index or list supplied to it under subsection (2)(a) of this section only—

“(a)

For any of the purposes of regulations that prescribe the method of election of the members of the Meat Board who are appointed as representatives of producers of meat for export and who are so appointed under section 2(2)(b) of the Meat Export Control Act 1921–22; or

“(b)

For the purposes of distributing to the farmers named in the index or list copies of the annual report and other publications of the Meat Board.

“(5)

The Wool Board shall use the index or list supplied to it under subsection (2)(b) of this section only—

“(a)

For any of the purposes of regulations that prescribe the method of election of the directors of the Wool Board who represent the wool growers of New Zealand and who are appointed under section 4(2)(a) of the Wool Industry Act 1977; or

“(b)

For the purposes of distributing to the wool growers named in the index or list copies of the annual report and other publications of the Wool Board.

“(6)

Every person commits an offence who, being a person who has received an index or list supplied to the Meat Board or the Wool Board under subsection (2) of this section for any of the purposes referred to in subsection (4) or subsection (5) of this section, delivers that index or list to any other person for a purpose not connected with those purposes or uses any information acquired by him from that index or list for a purpose not connected with those purposes.”

(2)

Section 10 of the Statistics Amendment Act 1982 is hereby consequentially repealed.

8 Repeal

The principal Act is hereby amended by repealing section 39.

This Act is administered in the Department of Statistics.

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Statistics Amendment Act 1985