Maori act defence over Census

A Northland man was fined $150 for not filling out his census form.

A Northlander wants the High Court to quash his conviction and fine for failing to fill in a Census form on the basis that he couldn't fill the form out under a Maori Land Act.

Shane Whatarau of Towai, north of Whangarei, was last month fined $150 by Whangarei District Court on a charge of failing to fill the form as required under the Statistics' Act and his appeal against the sentence and conviction was heard in the High Court at Whangarei yesterday.

Under the Statistics Act 1975, everyone must fill in a Census form and people can be fined up to $500 per charge if they do not participate, or they provide false or incomplete information.

There's an ongoing liability created by the Act where a failure to complete the form following conviction may render people liable to a fine not exceeding $20 per day while the forms remain incomplete.

Whatarau faced two charges under the Act, but was convicted on one charge only after the other couldn't be proven by Statistics New Zealand.

At a District Court hearing in May, Isobel Karaitiana claimed she wasn't bound by the Statistics Act, but only to He Whakaputanga or the declaration of independence signed in Waitangi.

At that hearing Judge Davis said that declaration hadn't been enacted into law, but was a longstanding law.

Whatarau relied on the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 - a Parliamentary statute to reform the laws relating to Maori land- and sought dismissal of the charges under provisions of that Act.

Judge Davis rejected his argument, saying that the provisions of the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act related to Maori land whereas the charges Whatarau faced related to the collection of information and statistics under the Statistics' Act.

The High Court at Whangarei yesterday heard his argument before Justice John Faire who reserved his decision on the appeal.

Whatarau said Judge Davis ruled on the basis of the English rather than the Maori version of the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993.

Justice Faire questioned why the Statistics' Act, which required all New Zealand citizens to complete the Census form and the consequences if they failed to do so, didn't apply to him.

Whatarau replied the Statistics' Act didn't supersede the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993.

The judge said Whatarau's argument boiled down to a jurisdictional issue.