Census Media Coverage (Updated 8/3 14:30)
March 8, 2006
Some media coverage about the Libz and the census. There was a TV1 camera crew in Wellington, but I haven't seen the footage yet. :) I was also interviewed a few times on radio yesterday, and there should be something in the Northern Advocate today. I am very pleased that the media have decided to report the principal of the matter - that it's not right for the government to demand private information.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10371610
Man 'freezes himself' to avoid census
08.03.06 1.00pm
By Hannah Lawrence
A census-objector claimed he was cryogenically frozen in a freezer and pronounced "legally dead" to avoid filling in yesterday's census.
This morning he woke up in his own bed in his house truck with a splitting headache and slight cold but otherwise none the worse for wear after the stunt in Hamilton's Garden Place.
As it was, Laird McGillicuddy Graeme Cairns had no census forms to fill in anyway, as he had recently moved into the house truck and had not been found by the census staff.
This was just the latest census-avoiding stunt for Mr Cairns. In 1986 he claimed he was possessed by the spirit of an ancient ape and was not legally a person. This failed in court.
In 1991 he filled out his form in Latin and nailed it to a tree. In 1996 he hovered over Garden Place in a hot air balloon and was deemed to be out of New Zealand's legal air space. In 2001 he was genuinely absent, in Australia tending to a dying friend.
He now has five years to work on his next stunt, which he says could involve either time travel or hypnosis so he believed himself a turnip, not a person.
Meanwhile, leader of the Libertarianz political party Bernard Darnton said about 15 members and up to 20 others gathered in Wellington's Botanic Gardens last night and incinerated their forms with the help of a fire-breather.
In the Far North a barbecue was held with "both sausages and census forms" being put on the grill, and a similar event was held in Christchurch.
"What we ultimately object to is the fact that the census is compulsory," Mr Darnton said.
"Somebody can show up on your doorstep, ask personal questions and if it was an ordinary person you could tell them to go to hell, which would be the sensible response," he said.
"Because it's somebody from the government you're compelled under threat of punishment to fill it in."
Mr Darnton said there were two responses to the argument that the government needed to hold a census to gather vital information about the population.
"The first is the practical response which is actually they don't need to gather that information through a census."
Germany did not have a census and seemed to be able to plan just fine, he said.
"The second is a more moral argument that even if that information is useful they're still gathering it in a way that they shouldn't. They're still using compulsion when simply asking nicely would probably work perfectly well."
Those who burned forms now faced the prospect of $500 fines, which would increase by $20 for every day the forms continued to not be filled in, he said.
"The area collector is going to come to my house, ask for the form, I will tell them that I've burnt it and then I will wait and see what the response is."
At the last census Mr Darnton took a similar stand. He was given another chance to complete the form and filled in the first five questions, leaving the rest blank.
"That was regarded as acceptable or too much trouble to do anything more with," he said.
Mr Darnton knew people who had been taken to court and fined in previous years.
"If it comes to being taken to the district court we'll go and make the point again that we object to the compulsory nature of the census."
Government Statistician Brian Pink said yesterday the census was an invaluable national resource.
He said the "five-yearly picture" allowed community groups, businesses and government to make planning decisions.
Statistics New Zealand is employing 6500 census collectors. It has printed more than four million forms. Collection of the completed forms begins today.
- NZPA
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3675398
EDITORIAL - Identity crisis as Kiwis ponder census
07.03.2006
Laura Franklin, Editor
Writing implements ready? Tonight is the night for filling in those fiddly little boxes and answering those impertinent questions - unless, like the Libertarianz, you intend to burn your Census forms as a statement of "conscientious objection".
Assuming you are not planning a backyard bonfire to register your moral rejection of the Chief Statistician's demand for personal information, then you will proceed through the questionnaire and eventually arrive at that question.
The one that quizzes you on your "ethnicity".
Had the question asked where you were born, what your nationality was and/or what citizenship you held, it might have achieved the statistics the social scientists actually wanted, while remaining less inflammatory to answer.
But since "ethnicity" is widely taken to be a matter more of feeling than of fact, it is being interpreted by increasing numbers as a far more challenging question: "Who are you?"
And, irrationally perhaps: "What right do you have to be here?"
Of course, the number crunchers had no intention of raising the spectre of racial tension, but when the answer "New Zealander" is not a mainstream choice, but must be entered by hand under the catch-all "other", it's bound to cause offense to some.
During the last census, in 2001, 78,000 people - mostly Pakeha but at least 3000 Maori or Pacific Islanders as well - chose to label themselves "New Zealander" or "Kiwi".
What else is a person to do when they don't feel they fit the provided pigeonholes: Maori, Pacific Islander, European ... or the outdated, colonial-flavoured "NZ European" (which is a completely inaccurate moniker intended to include those who hail from the British Isles, and have never considered themselves part of Europe).
Social scientists say the problem is that if everybody were to answer "New Zealander", they would't be able to use the figures to calculate useful statistics relating to racial groupings and their use of transport services, their social needs, their income and whether they own cellphones.
However, perhaps they will learn something even more useful.
The difference this year is that the census enumerators will be counting all "New Zealander" or "Kiwi" responses as a separate category rather than lumping them into "New Zealand European" as in the past.
Our country won't become one big harmonious melting-pot just through individuals ticking a particular box on a census form - but if it's a symptom of disaffection with them-and-us issues of race that is fuelling the "New Zealander" movement, then that is definitely a trend worth studying.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91201
Census to ashes
8/03/2006 6:00:02
An envelope full of ashes is all Statistics New Zealand can expect from a group of Northlanders.
Half a dozen Libertarianz members decided to barbecue their census forms last night.
Deputy leader of the political party, Julian Pistorius, says it felt good to incinerate the papers, as it is not right to be forced to complete the census.
But he realises the fight is not over yet. Mr Pistorius is nervous about what will happen when collectors come to get the census forms. He says he will give them the remains and a letter explaining why they are in ashes.
There is a $500 penalty for failing to complete the census. Forty people have been prosecuted over the last two censuses.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91141
Libertarianz barbequing Census
7/03/2006 11:00:02
Another group has announced it will not be participating in today's census, despite the fact it is a legal requirement.
Northland Libertarianz political party member Julian Pistorius says he will not be filling in his form.
He and other party members are having a barbecue and sausages will not be the only things on the grill, the group will be burning their census forms too.
Mr Pistorius says he does not think the government has the right to demand private information by force.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91208
Political Report for Wednesday, March 8, 2006
8/03/2006 7:20:03
If you did not take the time to sit down last night and answer the questions for Big Brother then there could be a knock on the door today.
Chances are it will be the census collector to pick up the form. But it could just be a bluebottle asking you why you have not complied with the law and that is the thing that gets up the nose of those who refuse to take part. They do not like being told what to do. They see it as some sort of sinister plot by the state to keep tabs on us.
It most certainly is an exercise in keeping tabs on us. Since the last census five years ago more than half of us have changed address. And that is what makes this information gathering exercise important.
It is providing data to those who plan for our future, to decide to build infrastructure, where to invest in a supermarket or build a service station, or where to build a school if there are enough kids living in the one area.
So despite what some would have us believe, it is not a sinister exercise.
That old bloke who should have a haircut and get a job, Christchurch's wizard, once publicly declared he was not going to fill out the form because he was not a Kiwi, he was a member of the universe.
There is a bloke in Northland from the Libertarianz Party the glorious Julian Pistorious who said he was going to light his barbecue with the census form because he did not think the Government had the right to demand private information by force.
And there was a bloke in Hamilton last night who claimed that he had been freezing himself so that he was not here at the allotted time. Does not sound as though he was all there anyway.
The Government statistician, an Aussie blue called Brian Pink wished the iceman all the best and hoped that he would be in fine form today.
If he is not then he could just be the ticket for a rather large gin and tonic!
Barry Soper
Political Editor
Newstalk ZB
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91176
Census excuses
7/03/2006 16:08:02
It seems some people will go to any length to avoid filling in their census form today.
One Hamilton man says he will be freezing himself to ensure he spends the day legally dead.
Another says he will be using his census form to light the barbecue.
But Government statistician Brian Pink says the census is New Zealand's most important survey. Mr Pink says no one should worry about their security as information is protected in the long term.
People can use the internet to fill out their forms before midnight tonight.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0603/S00045.htm
Fire-breather to Incinerate Libz Census Forms
Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 9:40 am
Press Release: Libertarianz Party
PRESS RELEASE
Libertarianz
Census Event
Fire-breather to Incinerate Libz Census Forms
Libertarianz members in Wellington will be incinerating their census forms with the help of a fire-breather on census night, Tuesday 7th March.
Libertarianz leader, Bernard Darnton, announced the event today, saying that "the census is a blatant example of Government intrusion into people's private lives and should not be tolerated."
The fire-breather will be performing on the Sound Shell Lawn in the Wellington Botanic Gardens at 8.30pm on census night and everyone who opposes the compulsory collection of personal information is welcome.
Libertarianz members in other parts of the country will also be barbecuing their census forms.
"The correct response," Darnton says, "when Government agents come knocking on the door asking for personal information, is not to meekly comply with every request but to tell them to go to hell."
"The idea that it's essential for the Government to gather all of this information is a nonsense. Germany doesn't have censuses and they seem to get on much better without them than they have in the past with them. All of this information gathering is simply nosy-parking to which the response should be a hearty 'Bugger off'."
ENDS
Event details
Wellington: Fire-breather, Sound Shell Lawn, Botanical Gardens, 8.30pm.
Northland (Kerikeri): BBQ.
Christchurch
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10371610
Man 'freezes himself' to avoid census
08.03.06 1.00pm
By Hannah Lawrence
A census-objector claimed he was cryogenically frozen in a freezer and pronounced "legally dead" to avoid filling in yesterday's census.
This morning he woke up in his own bed in his house truck with a splitting headache and slight cold but otherwise none the worse for wear after the stunt in Hamilton's Garden Place.
As it was, Laird McGillicuddy Graeme Cairns had no census forms to fill in anyway, as he had recently moved into the house truck and had not been found by the census staff.
This was just the latest census-avoiding stunt for Mr Cairns. In 1986 he claimed he was possessed by the spirit of an ancient ape and was not legally a person. This failed in court.
In 1991 he filled out his form in Latin and nailed it to a tree. In 1996 he hovered over Garden Place in a hot air balloon and was deemed to be out of New Zealand's legal air space. In 2001 he was genuinely absent, in Australia tending to a dying friend.
He now has five years to work on his next stunt, which he says could involve either time travel or hypnosis so he believed himself a turnip, not a person.
Meanwhile, leader of the Libertarianz political party Bernard Darnton said about 15 members and up to 20 others gathered in Wellington's Botanic Gardens last night and incinerated their forms with the help of a fire-breather.
In the Far North a barbecue was held with "both sausages and census forms" being put on the grill, and a similar event was held in Christchurch.
"What we ultimately object to is the fact that the census is compulsory," Mr Darnton said.
"Somebody can show up on your doorstep, ask personal questions and if it was an ordinary person you could tell them to go to hell, which would be the sensible response," he said.
"Because it's somebody from the government you're compelled under threat of punishment to fill it in."
Mr Darnton said there were two responses to the argument that the government needed to hold a census to gather vital information about the population.
"The first is the practical response which is actually they don't need to gather that information through a census."
Germany did not have a census and seemed to be able to plan just fine, he said.
"The second is a more moral argument that even if that information is useful they're still gathering it in a way that they shouldn't. They're still using compulsion when simply asking nicely would probably work perfectly well."
Those who burned forms now faced the prospect of $500 fines, which would increase by $20 for every day the forms continued to not be filled in, he said.
"The area collector is going to come to my house, ask for the form, I will tell them that I've burnt it and then I will wait and see what the response is."
At the last census Mr Darnton took a similar stand. He was given another chance to complete the form and filled in the first five questions, leaving the rest blank.
"That was regarded as acceptable or too much trouble to do anything more with," he said.
Mr Darnton knew people who had been taken to court and fined in previous years.
"If it comes to being taken to the district court we'll go and make the point again that we object to the compulsory nature of the census."
Government Statistician Brian Pink said yesterday the census was an invaluable national resource.
He said the "five-yearly picture" allowed community groups, businesses and government to make planning decisions.
Statistics New Zealand is employing 6500 census collectors. It has printed more than four million forms. Collection of the completed forms begins today.
- NZPA
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3675398
EDITORIAL - Identity crisis as Kiwis ponder census
07.03.2006
Laura Franklin, Editor
Writing implements ready? Tonight is the night for filling in those fiddly little boxes and answering those impertinent questions - unless, like the Libertarianz, you intend to burn your Census forms as a statement of "conscientious objection".
Assuming you are not planning a backyard bonfire to register your moral rejection of the Chief Statistician's demand for personal information, then you will proceed through the questionnaire and eventually arrive at that question.
The one that quizzes you on your "ethnicity".
Had the question asked where you were born, what your nationality was and/or what citizenship you held, it might have achieved the statistics the social scientists actually wanted, while remaining less inflammatory to answer.
But since "ethnicity" is widely taken to be a matter more of feeling than of fact, it is being interpreted by increasing numbers as a far more challenging question: "Who are you?"
And, irrationally perhaps: "What right do you have to be here?"
Of course, the number crunchers had no intention of raising the spectre of racial tension, but when the answer "New Zealander" is not a mainstream choice, but must be entered by hand under the catch-all "other", it's bound to cause offense to some.
During the last census, in 2001, 78,000 people - mostly Pakeha but at least 3000 Maori or Pacific Islanders as well - chose to label themselves "New Zealander" or "Kiwi".
What else is a person to do when they don't feel they fit the provided pigeonholes: Maori, Pacific Islander, European ... or the outdated, colonial-flavoured "NZ European" (which is a completely inaccurate moniker intended to include those who hail from the British Isles, and have never considered themselves part of Europe).
Social scientists say the problem is that if everybody were to answer "New Zealander", they would't be able to use the figures to calculate useful statistics relating to racial groupings and their use of transport services, their social needs, their income and whether they own cellphones.
However, perhaps they will learn something even more useful.
The difference this year is that the census enumerators will be counting all "New Zealander" or "Kiwi" responses as a separate category rather than lumping them into "New Zealand European" as in the past.
Our country won't become one big harmonious melting-pot just through individuals ticking a particular box on a census form - but if it's a symptom of disaffection with them-and-us issues of race that is fuelling the "New Zealander" movement, then that is definitely a trend worth studying.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91201
Census to ashes
8/03/2006 6:00:02
An envelope full of ashes is all Statistics New Zealand can expect from a group of Northlanders.
Half a dozen Libertarianz members decided to barbecue their census forms last night.
Deputy leader of the political party, Julian Pistorius, says it felt good to incinerate the papers, as it is not right to be forced to complete the census.
But he realises the fight is not over yet. Mr Pistorius is nervous about what will happen when collectors come to get the census forms. He says he will give them the remains and a letter explaining why they are in ashes.
There is a $500 penalty for failing to complete the census. Forty people have been prosecuted over the last two censuses.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91141
Libertarianz barbequing Census
7/03/2006 11:00:02
Another group has announced it will not be participating in today's census, despite the fact it is a legal requirement.
Northland Libertarianz political party member Julian Pistorius says he will not be filling in his form.
He and other party members are having a barbecue and sausages will not be the only things on the grill, the group will be burning their census forms too.
Mr Pistorius says he does not think the government has the right to demand private information by force.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91208
Political Report for Wednesday, March 8, 2006
8/03/2006 7:20:03
If you did not take the time to sit down last night and answer the questions for Big Brother then there could be a knock on the door today.
Chances are it will be the census collector to pick up the form. But it could just be a bluebottle asking you why you have not complied with the law and that is the thing that gets up the nose of those who refuse to take part. They do not like being told what to do. They see it as some sort of sinister plot by the state to keep tabs on us.
It most certainly is an exercise in keeping tabs on us. Since the last census five years ago more than half of us have changed address. And that is what makes this information gathering exercise important.
It is providing data to those who plan for our future, to decide to build infrastructure, where to invest in a supermarket or build a service station, or where to build a school if there are enough kids living in the one area.
So despite what some would have us believe, it is not a sinister exercise.
That old bloke who should have a haircut and get a job, Christchurch's wizard, once publicly declared he was not going to fill out the form because he was not a Kiwi, he was a member of the universe.
There is a bloke in Northland from the Libertarianz Party the glorious Julian Pistorious who said he was going to light his barbecue with the census form because he did not think the Government had the right to demand private information by force.
And there was a bloke in Hamilton last night who claimed that he had been freezing himself so that he was not here at the allotted time. Does not sound as though he was all there anyway.
The Government statistician, an Aussie blue called Brian Pink wished the iceman all the best and hoped that he would be in fine form today.
If he is not then he could just be the ticket for a rather large gin and tonic!
Barry Soper
Political Editor
Newstalk ZB
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=91176
Census excuses
7/03/2006 16:08:02
It seems some people will go to any length to avoid filling in their census form today.
One Hamilton man says he will be freezing himself to ensure he spends the day legally dead.
Another says he will be using his census form to light the barbecue.
But Government statistician Brian Pink says the census is New Zealand's most important survey. Mr Pink says no one should worry about their security as information is protected in the long term.
People can use the internet to fill out their forms before midnight tonight.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0603/S00045.htm
Fire-breather to Incinerate Libz Census Forms
Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 9:40 am
Press Release: Libertarianz Party
PRESS RELEASE
Libertarianz
Census Event
Fire-breather to Incinerate Libz Census Forms
Libertarianz members in Wellington will be incinerating their census forms with the help of a fire-breather on census night, Tuesday 7th March.
Libertarianz leader, Bernard Darnton, announced the event today, saying that "the census is a blatant example of Government intrusion into people's private lives and should not be tolerated."
The fire-breather will be performing on the Sound Shell Lawn in the Wellington Botanic Gardens at 8.30pm on census night and everyone who opposes the compulsory collection of personal information is welcome.
Libertarianz members in other parts of the country will also be barbecuing their census forms.
"The correct response," Darnton says, "when Government agents come knocking on the door asking for personal information, is not to meekly comply with every request but to tell them to go to hell."
"The idea that it's essential for the Government to gather all of this information is a nonsense. Germany doesn't have censuses and they seem to get on much better without them than they have in the past with them. All of this information gathering is simply nosy-parking to which the response should be a hearty 'Bugger off'."
ENDS
Event details
Wellington: Fire-breather, Sound Shell Lawn, Botanical Gardens, 8.30pm.
Northland (Kerikeri): BBQ.
Christchurch