Summarised by Centrist
Dr Muriel Newman writes that Te Pāti Māori’s alleged misuse of private Census and vaccination data illustrates the risks of co-governance arrangements for data collection.
Newman argues the politicisation of data aligns with iwi leaders’ separatist agenda, under the banner “by Māori, for Māori.”
This politicisation has led directly to significant increases in the number of Māori seats in Parliament.
In 1974, the definition of ‘Māori’ was expanded from 50% ancestry to include anyone who claimed any level of Māori descent, significantly increasing the reported Māori population.
Until 1996, Māori seats were fixed at four, but then seat calculations began to use Census Māori descent data and the Māori Electoral Option, allowing voters to choose between the General Roll and the Māori Roll, raising the number to seven.
The Government Statistician’s unilateral decision to “impute” Māori descent for unclear census responses, without legislative backing, inflated the Māori population stats further.
In the 2023 Census, this practice evolved to include data matching with government databases and iwi records, resulting in nearly a million people being classified as Māori.
The reliability of Census data and its role in calculating the number of Māori seats is now in doubt.
Newman argues that accurate data is crucial for parliamentary integrity, especially for race-based seats.
