Dean JacquiHon JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): Thank you Madam Speaker. What a wonderful speech we just heard from that Government member Clayton Mitchell just now: It's a bit of a … muddle". I won't repeat his exact words: "It's a bit of a … muddle"; "Nothing we can't clean up. It will be all right we can clean it up."Well that member obviously has not read the independent report which found that to the contrary of what the Prime Minister and Minister James Shaw have been touting for the last 18 months about how well this census is going—the independent report absolutely gives the lie to that. In fact what the independent report found was the statements made by the Prime Minister and James Shaw were to be less trusted than perhaps they might have been because what they found was that the census was not underfunded and that the digital-first strategy was a perfectly good sound strategy. So they were not the issues that caused the terrible failure of this census which has unfolded in front of us for the past 18 months. So any notion that yet again it was the previous Government's fault for this current Government's failings—a very convenient narrative of this Government—well I'm afraid to tell that member and members of the Government that that story just does not hold any weight. Do not believe my words—you wouldn't of course—but please do read the independent report to find the truth of the matter which is that Census 2018 was adequately funded and the digital-first strategy was more than adequate.So I do look forward to perhaps some more sensible and less defensive debate perhaps a little bit less defensive and a little more clarity coming from the Government over what has been an absolute "something something muddle"—not going to say what it is. Can I suggest to the Government that this needs a little more than an attitude of "Nothing that we can't clean up." I'll tell you why that is: because in the next five years—the next period of this current census—$100 billion in public money will be spent based on the information in the 2018 census. So for the next five years public expenditure on health on education on infrastructure on numbers of people and on the number of teachers in schools—goodness knows! The number of birthing units we have down south to name but one example that matters to those people will be based on information where this current Government had to backfill for 825000 people whose statistics were not counted.So with those 825000 people who were unable to fill in a census because they couldn't get the documents or figure out or have access to the online version the Government will just guess. They will just guess. The chief statistician will just guess. They'll use matrixes and they'll use all sorts of data none of which may be relevant to that day on 5 June last year if I've got the date right and that was the year of census week. And by the way that was also the week when the Hon James Shaw was flying off to parts unknown to speak at a climate change conference.So in terms of a Minister whose really got a handle on his portfolio I don't think that could be said of James Shaw who in the 18 months leading up to the census did not receive one specific briefing on the census—not one. He didn't issue one press release reminding people that we were moving to a new online platform and it would be a good idea to raise some public awareness because actually your details in census do matter. Letting the public know and getting them a bit excited about census does matter. Particularly when we have a Government which is so very keen on bowling head-on into online voting one would have thought that there would have been a high degree of support but where was it? It was completely absent.Well at least the chief statistician has had the grace to take responsibility for this census. What a poor result. What poor support the chief statistician has had from her Minister. Where was he during the census? He was nowhere to be seen. Where is he now? He is washing his hands. It's all good—it's all good! The census will be fine! Except that it's not fine because that public money that $100 billion in the next five years which will be based on the census findings will be largely guess work. So the expenditure on infrastructure planning—that is very important for local government. As they begin to grapple with issues around infrastructure spend to do with Three Waters who can trust the statistics that underpin that infrastructure spending for any local authority area in New Zealand?The electoral boundaries—there is an election in a little over 12 months. How can members of Parliament and how can those people that we serve be assured that the boundaries as drawn effectively and realistically reflect the populations they're in? It does matter particularly in large electorates where the boundaries shift a lot over time that those voters are getting the best representative to represent them based on the size of their electorate.What about social policy research something held dear by every Government? How will the Government know where to direct its attention around social policy when it has such poor return rates from Māori and Pacific Islanders? So for Pacific Island people only 63 percent of their population were counted in the census. What's the rest of it going to be? Is it going to be guess work? What about Māori—68 percent? What's the rest of it going to be? Is it going to be guess work? Well the short answer is yes it is going to be guess work. This is a Government and this is a Minister—James Shaw—who's literally been asleep at the wheel and is letting down the people of New Zealand where it absolutely matters.I want to turn to Maurice Williamson who is well known to this House and who was very proud of the roles that he was involved in. We all remember SmartGate and we're getting a bit far from the argument here but he achieved that project because he was enthusiastic. He gave the House updates every second week and it was a project that worked. He was fully engaged with it as he was with the census. He gave the House many many updates on how the census was going. He was engaged and he cared; this is not so for the current Minister.For the past 18 months this country has had to endure shifting sands of targets. Well they started off with a 95 percent target for the whole population. It dropped to 90 percent because things weren't going so well. Then it dropped to 85 percent. Finally the final report said that only an 83 percent target of returns was achieved. That is a fail. That is an epic fail and nothing this Government tries to do to dance around the issue and shift the blame—which they're getting very very good at—is going to wash where it really matters and that is with the allocation of public funding to New Zealand.So we've had the charade of dismissing concerns about the census for 18 months. How much longer is this going to go on? There has been a complete lack of openness and transparency in this whole process by a Government which at the start of its term promised to be the most open and transparent Government this country has ever seen. Well goodbye to that charade as well.Finally this is an example of a part-time Minister and a part-time Government absolutely failing to deliver for the needs of New Zealanders."