This year’s Census is set to be the second consecutive expensive and embarrassing census failure, National's Statistics spokesperson Simon Watts says.

“This Census, which is expected to cost $272 million, is well on its way to missing its 90 per cent target.

“Around one in five Kiwis have not filled in their census forms, with completion rates even worse for Maōri and Pacific communities.

“Most of the unreturned forms are from major cities, showing the low return rate has nothing to do with Cyclone Gabrielle.

“StatsNZ has asked Cabinet for another $37 million to try and finish the Census and get accurate and fulsome data. That means there is a possibility that almost $300 million will be spent on this Census, and it may not deliver accurate results.

“The Census has been plagued by problems, including over 1.4 million New Zealanders receiving duplicate census forms and census workers planning to take legal action over allegedly misleading recruitment processes.

“The integrity of the data collected at the census is critical, and a second subsequent census failure under Labour will have impacts well into the future across every area of government. A census is too important to get wrong.

“Despite this, the Minister of Statistics, Deborah Russell has been completely absent, despite earlier staking her career on the 2023 Census reaching its 90 per cent target.

“It's time for her to front up over the failure under her watch.”