Why do they want your full name and DOB for the census? They used to say it was to identify who to contact if there was a problem with the forms or to collect them. Bullshit. Now they say it's so that people can leave their forms in the arcnives for geneologists and family in the future. Bullshit. The reason they seek unnecessary and irrelevant personal information is to data-match, to use the data to find and assess individuals. It was this mis-use described in Michael King's biography on 'Princess' Te Puea Herangi during WW1 Waikato Tainui resisted the conscription and so the NZ government and the NZ Police unlawfully used the census information to track the resisters down. Nothing has really changed. The NZ government and their agencies cannot be trusted with this information. They are opportunistic and prefer to break the law and get a validating order afterwards than to follow the rule of law.
The question is: to boycott the census entirely, or to boycott the personal parts of the form. I suggest the latter. Yes, it is still giving agencies - and others purchasing the data commercially or accessing it by legislative right - too much info that could lead to possible identification; but not returning a form and not counting altogether will have adverse outcomest through the cumulative effect of undercounting. Mr An On, b.00/00/197- ought to be sufficient.
