Throwing the kitchen sink at Census 2023 for Marlborough's best stats yet
Friday, 24 February 2023
Joe Asiata reckons Marlborough’s Pasifika community is growing rapidly, but he doesn’t have the numbers to back that up – yet.
The Blenheim Samoan Community president has become Stats NZ’s senior adviser for community engagement in Te Tauihu (top of the south) in this year’s census, hoping he can get a better turnout than the last one in 2018.
“We’re just throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, at it this year,” Asiata said.
The last census recorded 1569 Pasifika people in Marlborough, which was 3.15% of the region’s total. But Stats NZ estimated 28% of the country’s Pasifika populations did not do the 2018 census.
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“One thing we know for sure is that the population of Pasifika and Māori is rapidly growing in the Marlborough region, but that’s not showing up on our database,” Asiata said.
“It’s about bringing awareness to our people, because a lot of us are not informed, or don’t actually know the importance of us being accounted for.”
Census data was used to allocate public funding and provide services, so it was important that people knew how large the Pasifika population was in Marlborough, Asiata said.
“We have to know where to allocate funds, because at the moment it’s just going into the same places where there’s a larger population of Pasifika people. So our purpose is to encourage our people to fill out their forms and let them know the reasoning behind it,” Asiata said.
“Information, it informs us, our communities, and the needs and the direction we should address those needs. We use it to broker and secure funding, support and resources to better serve of the needs of our families, and that’s why it's so important for us to have information.”
That was echoed by Stats NZ which said the data was used to make important decisions about how to fund and provide services, and helped to create a better understanding of communities and their needs.
For this year’s census there would be twice as many census collectors and field staff working around the country, and working three times the number of hours, a Stats NZ spokesperson said.
“More investment has been made in the 2023 census, compared to the 2018 census, to make it easier for people to participate, and to provide additional support for population groups who have historically had lower response rates and/or experienced barriers to participating in the census.”
Their “priority audiences” for this year’s census included Māori, Pasifika, and older people, among others, as these groups had “faced the most barriers, or have had the lowest response rates,” in the past, the spokesperson said.
Pasifika peoples recorded in Marlborough in the last census spanned at least 15 nationalities. There were 534 Samoans, 384 Tongans, 204 Cook Island Māori, 123 ni-Vanuatu, 105 Fijians and 90 Niueans.
As part of that effort, Asiata visited Omaka Marae in Blenheim this month to kōrero with iwi leaders about improving engagement with whānau.
Asiata said Stats NZ would be at community events in Marlborough over the next two months to spread awareness and help people to fill out their forms, including the Seniors' Expo at Marlborough Events Centre in Blenheim on Census Day, March 7.
People would receive a census letter with a private access code either from a Census Collector visiting your dwelling, or in the post.
Forms could be completed either online or on paper before Census Day, and Stats NZ would follow up with households they had not received forms from after that date.
They would also be visiting a number of viticulture and horticulture contractors to encourage Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers in the region to get involved.
“It doesn't matter what status you are, if you’re a resident, visitor, anything. If you're in the country when it’s census time, everybody has to do it,” Asiata said.
Catch the Stats NZ team
Marlborough Multicultural Festival at Pollard Park, Blenheim, March 4
Seniors' Expo at Marlborough Events Centre, Blenheim, March 7
Marlborough District Library in Blenheim, March 8 and 9
Havelock Mussel & Seafood Festival at Havelock Domain, Havelock, March 11
Marlborough Youth Trust, Blenheim, March 13