SpeechDr JIAN YANG (National): It is simply astonishing to listen to the previous two speakers. Minister Shaw—after listening to his speech I came to the conclusion that basically firstly as the Minister he has no responsibility whatsoever for the disaster of Census 2018; and secondly it was actually a good census because we achieved a high coverage rate and because we did well with many other areas. He also claimed that he trusts academics more than other people. But if you listen to the academics you'll find they claim that this is a disaster. Listen to Professor Arnold. Listen to Professor Paul Spoonley. You'll see they all believe the census is a disaster.Listen to the Hon Chris Hipkins. You'll find that he has not read the report at all. He continues to blame the previous Government for the decision and for the funding issue. Well the report has made it very clear that the decision was a good decision and the census was sufficiently funded. Also Mr Hipkins said that Oh the PR issue? PR is not particularly important and the Minister does not have to be in the country for the census." But what we can see: in a battlefield a general can be away seeing all. In the end the general will not shoot anyway. So the leader must be there and the Minister should stay in the country. This is very simple. To be a leader you need to be in the country to lead your team. But he was away and he did not express any particular interest in the census. That was highlighted by the fact that he did not issue a single press release to encourage people to participate.This report has confirmed what we have known for about 18 months—that is Census 2018 is a disaster a failure a debacle a shambles. The review—I quote this review—says "Two of the four investment objectives … were not met and a third is likely to be very challenging. As such it would be easy to conclude that the 2018 Census was not successful."Hon James Shaw: That's right; it would be easy to conclude that.Dr JIAN YANG: That's right. Instead of taking any responsibility the Government has been blaming the previous National Government about the decision saying that "Oh the National Government made the decision. It was the wrong decision." while it is clear the decision was made to be in line with international census development. Look at Canada; look at Australia—the two countries who did online censuses in 2016. In Canada the response rate was 98.4 percent. In Australia it reached 94.8 percent. So these two countries did very well—the online census—and with good results. That is why we believe in a future which moves to an online census. The problem is that this Government from the Minister down to Stats New Zealand did not pay attention. The online census did not do well did not execute the operation well and made huge mistakes.Looking at this report again it says—to quote—"The design principles for the 2018 Census were feasible and were influenced by a successful methodology adopted internationally". So there was no problem with the decision. In terms of funding this Government claimed the National Party did not give enough money to the census. Minister Shaw and also the Prime Minister continue to complain about this. Well this report again says on page 16 that "The 2018 Census programme had sufficient budget to carry out its programme plan." So there was no problem with the funding at all. So what's the problem? The lack of leadership is the major factor: the lack of leadership from the Minister and from this Government not just Stats New Zealand's leadership.As I've mentioned this Minister did not express any particular interest in the census—no press release was away from the country—and from the very beginning he expressed blind confidence in Stats New Zealand without doing his own job. Well look at it. Just four days before census day there had been various signs that Census 2018 was running into trouble. Minister Shaw had no such sense and was not concerned. He was still aiming at a response rate of 95 to 99 percent—95 to 99 percent. More astonishingly he stayed out of this and went overseas. Then one month later on 12 April last year he told this House in answering my question that "from all indications we are on track to meet the census numbers as with any previous census." and that "What I would say is that this census looks to be more successful than previous censuses that we're meeting all of our targets". That's over one month after the census. He still expressed his blind confidence because he did not know what really was going on.However three months later he started to realise there was a problem—there was a mess. Then he started to hide behind officials. He said "I expressed my confidence based on advice from Statistics New Zealand"—that's not my problem; that's the officials' problem right? He has continuously hid behind the officials. Officials have become the shield for Minister Shaw. He has no courage to face up to the failure and—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! You can't say that about a member.Dr JIAN YANG: OK sorry. He has not taken any responsibility. Well chief statistician Liz MacPherson took the responsibility and resigned. That should have exposed the Minister but still he has not acknowledged any—any—fault or responsibility. Well the question is: had he asked the officials tough questions about the 2018 census? Obviously he had not. So on 6 March 2019 the anniversary of the failed 2018 census we were told in this House that Minister Shaw had not taken advice on key risks surrounding Census 2018 and that was one year after the census debacle.So this Minister was asleep at the wheel for the past two years when he has been Minister of Statistics. We ask: why do we need a Minister if whenever something goes wrong in his department he will simply say "Well that's not my problem; that's the officials' problem."? So the Minister should take his responsibility.Now we are concerned about this census because we are concerned about the accuracy issue. This Government has been labelling itself as a wellbeing Government but in the end they delivered the worst census in our history. Without accurate data how can we ensure that this Government will be able to deliver wellbeing? Those agencies who really are dependent on accurate data will not be able to deliver or to carry out their own responsibilities or job to make sure that wellbeing is indeed being delivered. So health and social workers social support education—these agencies will not be able to have up-to-date census data and therefore will not be able to really deliver what they should be able to deliver in terms of protecting or promoting wellbeing and equity in New Zealand. I do ask the Minister to face up to the challenge and take more responsibility."