Hipkins ChrisHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Education): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I welcome this opportunity to make a contribution on this urgent debate about last year's census and put a few more facts on the record because I think that there were a few contributions from the Minister which were perhaps a little bit understated. So allow me to elaborate on them a little bit further for those who might have missed it.I think that asking for this debate is a spectacular own goal on the part of the Opposition—on the part of the previous Government who were the ones who established the parameters under which last year's census operated. It was the last Government that signed off on the decision to move to a digital-first model for the census. It was the last Government who were driving towards the use of more administrative data in future censuses. It was the last Government who supplied four of the five Ministers of Statistics who oversaw last year's census and yet you don't see any of them accepting responsibility for what followed—not one of them—despite the fact that most of the major milestones towards last year's census happened under their administration.They were the ones that set the budget. They were the ones that decided to go digital. They were the ones that were pushing for more administrative data. They were the ones who were asking Stats New Zealand to undergo a massive transformation process all in that cycle of one census. Do you see anybody on the other side accepting any responsibility at all? No. Well first of all they wouldn't be able to decide which one of their four Ministers of Statistics might actually accept responsibility for that. I tell you what if we're talking about quality oversight: on this side of the House we have had one Minister of Statistics for the entire time that we have been in Government. We have provided a continuity that four Ministers under the last Government were unable to do.Hon Dr Nick Smith: Over nine years.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Our Government—it wasn't under nine years; it was during the time of the planning for the census. Those four Ministers were in the last couple of years of that Government. They constantly reshuffled the role because they didn't think it was important. They just gave it to whoever the next Johnny-come-lately in their Cabinet was because they didn't think statistics was important. Perhaps if they had accorded it a little bit more priority and they'd had Ministers actually taking more interest in the planning for the census they would have picked up that the decisions that they had made were creating problems. The decisions they made to go digital the decisions they made to put more reliance on administrative data the signing off of the milestones on the way to the preparation—all of which have been under their Government. No responsibility is being accepted by the National Party for that whatsoever and I think it's about time they did.But instead what we've seen from the National Party is this desperate attempt to discredit everything to do with the census—the burn-the-house-down style of politics that we're seeing from the National Party imported from their mates in Australia after their nice little cup of tea that Simon Bridges had. They came back and decided that the best way to get into Government was to just completely destroy the credibility of the entire Public Service by discrediting everything that any aspect of the Government does because they are that desperate to get back into Government. We know that because of Simon Bridges' own words: One person's facts are another person's misinformation." In other words "Let's create as much confusion as possible. Let's discredit every aspect of Government whatsoever—every aspect of Government we possibly can—in order to try and get back into office."Well I can say to the members opposite that it isn't going to work because New Zealanders can see through that type of behaviour. They can see how desperate the National Party have become—lashing out at everything and everybody in order to try and discredit this Government and it's not working.So the National Party the National Government made the decision to adopt the digital-first model. That was one of the decisions that would have had an impact on the turnout. What is Nick Smith's solution for getting a better turnout at the census? He thought the Minister should have issued more press releases encouraging people to fill in their census forms. Apparently the 2013 Census had a better turnout result a better response result because Maurice Williamson issued more press releases than James Shaw did. Apparently the golden solution to getting more people participating in the census was to get—Hon Dr Nick Smith: The Minister was missing in action.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: —the Minister issuing more press releases like Maurice Williamson did.And now Nick Smith is yelling "The Minister wasn't in the country when the census took place." Well I can tell Nick Smith that that would have made a difference to one census result and that was the Minister's own census result. Other than that it would have had no impact whatsoever on the census whether or not the Minister of Statistics was in the country or not at the time the census took place. A Minister issuing press releases is not going to result in more people filling in their census forms. And if he thinks that Maurice Williamson issuing more press releases was the reason for the turnout in 2013 he is seriously seriously deluded.Ultimately the census did not go as anticipated did not go as planned by the last Government and there has to be some accountability for that and there has been accountability for that. I do want to acknowledge that a senior public servant has stood down from her job. She has done the right thing by accepting responsibility by accepting accountability and I commend her for doing so because that is ultimately where the buck stops—with the chief statistician who is responsible for ensuring that the census was delivered in accordance with the rules with the law and with the obligations that were set down for the chief statistician. I think that she has done the right thing and I commend her for doing that.Now is the time for us to ensure that we have got robust data on which we can make decisions. Who am I going to rely on for advice on that? Not Nick Smith. I'm actually going to rely on the panel of international experts that have been formed to tell us whether or not we have reliable enough data to make decisions. Their advice is that yes we do. I am happy to take that advice because they actually know what they're talking about. They're not trying to create confusion deliberately. They're not peddling in misinformation as the National Party have openly admitted that they are willing to do. They're willing to say that one person's fact's another person's misinformation. The statisticians who have been running a ruler over this exercise are not engaged in that type of behaviour. They're actually interested in making sure we've got robust data on which to make decisions. I am confident that if they are telling us that they think the census has been able to produce that supplemented with the other information that's been obtained then I am willing to take that advice."