Editorial: We're all in the same tick-box

Statistics New Zealand has a problem. It is trying to squeeze square pegs into round holes.

The square pegs are the people who identified themselves as New Zealanders in the 2006 census. The round holes are the ethnic categories into which it wants New Zealanders to divide themselves.

Three years ago 400,000 people ignored the categories set out in the census form and wrote New Zealander in the "other" category. By using other sources of information, Statistics NZ has been able to build up a picture of those who refused to tick its boxes. It says more than 90 per cent were of European origin and they tended to be male, slightly older, better off and better educated than the general population.

However, the government statistician warns, in a discussion document issued this week, that if the number who ignore its official classifications continues to grow, the data collected in future ethnicity surveys will be rendered unusable. Good.

According to Statistics NZ, the data is vital for the development of public policy. It is used to address social and economic inequality associated with membership of particular ethnic groups. Perhaps policy makers could try just addressing disadvantage.

Statistics NZ also suggests those who define themselves as New Zealanders are confusing ethnic and national identity. They are not. It is Statistics NZ that is confused.

According to the government statistician, an ethnic group is one which shares some or all of the following characteristics: a common proper name; elements of common culture such as religion, customs or language; a unique community of interests, feelings and actions; a shared sense of common origins or ancestry; and a common geographic origin.

The reason growing numbers of people are choosing to identify themselves as New Zealanders is because that is what they are, not just in a legal sense, but in a cultural sense.

They are a group whose members have a common proper name, New Zealanders; share a common language, a version of English in which Maori terms and phrases are becoming increasingly common; share common values and interests; and share common origins and ancestry. The majority were born in this country, as were the parents and grandparents of many. There is nowhere else that they call home and no other group of people with whom they identify more closely.

If what Statistics NZ really wants to know is the racial composition of those who identify as New Zealanders, that is what it should ask for although it might not like the response.

But if it is genuinely interested in the ethnic makeup of New Zealand, it should open its eyes. A unique national identity is taking shape. It is one that incorporates elements of Maori, European, Pacific and now Asian culture. Home for its members is not on the other side of the globe. It is here. The language that is spoken is not the Queen's English or Samoan or Cantonese, it is New Zild. And the values held by its members are not the values of London or Apia or Hong Kong, but of the Hutt Valley, South Auckland, Southland and Wellington.

That is something to celebrate, not to fret about.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Patricia   #1   11:39 am Apr 29 2009

We are all New Zealanders regardless, but I have no objection to providing further details. I find it interesting to see how our population is changing, and we can't know this for sure without gathering the information first. Statistics NZ need to do a better job of explaining the point of the question, so that people are happy to answer it.

As a newspaper, you will be the first to miss having these details. How will you be able to say that Auckland's population has a high proportion of Asians or Pacific Islanders, or tell us that Maori make up only a small percentage of the population but a large proportion of the prison tally? (Interesting that no-one turns that statistic around to say that 51% - or whatever it is - of the prison population is NOT Maori).

The only thing I object to is being forced to say I am European. I am not a newcomer to New Zealand, and shouldn't be made to feel that I am. I want a tick-box that says Pakeha - the word that means I totally belong here (just as Maori say this is the one and only place they belong). Perhaps one year, there should be an option of writing our own description, rather than ticking a box. A lot of work involved in the results for sure, but next time they could give us a range of tick-boxes that wouldn't leave us feeling put out.

Patricia Roberts coolnz.net

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