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Supplementary Order Paper No 156

No 156

House of Representatives

Supplementary Order Paper

Tuesday, 17 May 2022

Data and Statistics Bill

Proposed amendment

Hon Michael Woodhouse, in Committee, to move the following amendment:

Clause 34

In clause 34(1), replace paragraph (a) (page 21, line 13) with:

(a)

in—

(i)

2023; or

(ii)

2024 if the Minister decides, following public consultation, that a census cannot be held in 2023 for 1 or more of the following reasons:

(A)

a national state of emergency:

(B)

an unreasonable level of risk to public health and safety:

(C)

an unreasonable level of risk to the health and safety of staff employed by Statistics New Zealand:

(D)

civil unrest; and

Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Data and Statistics Bill to ensure that any delay to the next census is properly justified. A 1-year delay to the census has consequential flow-on effects to the decision making of both central and local Government, and potentially large fiscal impacts for both Statistics New Zealand and the Government as a whole. If the census is to be delayed, it should be by a ministerial decision made after public consultation, and it should only be delayed for a limited number of serious reasons.