A ‘big test’ ahead this year for the Government

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

News that panic alarms will be supplied to Census workers is another sign of the way that New Zealand society is starting to threaten to fray.

The 3000 collectors who will spend about eight weeks visiting homes across NZ from the end of this month to April are being given the alarms as a safety measure against a post-Covid rise in anti-government feeling. It's understood the move is in response to a risk of doorstep antagonism.

An applicant said recruitment agencies told them increased safety measures were “in anticipation of huge anti-Government sentiment”.

Professor Paul Spoonley, chair of the Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, said trust in the Government had been falling among a segment of society since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

That polarisation would be further tested by the March 7 census and 2023 General Election.

“There is a big test for Government-community relations this year,” Prof Spoonley said.

There are fears collectors could face increased antagonism this year because Census Day comes one year after the three-week protest on Parliament's grounds ended violently. There are reports some groups are planning anniversary events. While that protest ended in a riot, there are a large number of people who are still opposed to the vaccination mandates and other moves made by the Government in response to the pandemic.

This has multiplied into a mistrust of just about anything the Government does, like the census.

The great majority of these people are peaceful but unfortunately fringe elements have emerged that are anything but.

NZ's Muslim community is still suffering the effects of horrific right-wing extremism in the Christchurch shootings and security services say those sorts of people are still active.

The Internet has played a huge part in allowing people with extreme views to form groups more easily.

Another sign of the fraying of what was once a stable country is the fact that the traditional barbecue held by the PM on Waitangi Day will probably not go ahead because of security concerns.

The census, held every four years, collects essential information needed by the government for its planning in key fields like health and information among a raft of others.

If a growing discord in society fuelled by misinformation makes the data obtained less accurate it would be a disaster.