Census 2023: Wintec helps Stats NZ to give number of returned forms a boost

The Census team at the Wintec | Te Pūkenga City Campus hub (from left): Tim MacIndoe (team leader), Melisa Kristie (senior collector), Ross Officer (senior collector), Godfrey Bridger (Waikato area Census Operations manager) and Jackie Kofoed (census collector). Photo / Wintec

Wintec Te Pūkenga helped Stats NZ boost the number of returned Census 2023 forms through dedicated stalls at student hubs to reach non-responders.

About one in 10 people were still due to return their Census forms, so the Statistics New Zealand Waikato Area manager Godfrey Bridger reached out to Wintec to see if they could help.

Wintec Te Pūkenga director of communications Erin Andersen says the Wintec Hamilton City and Rotokauri campuses represent a diverse community.

“It is really important that as many of our people as possible are captured by the 2023 Census, to ensure people of all ethnicities and walks of life are represented and can get the support they need in the future.”

“Our campuses represent a wonderful diversity, including our Rainbow community and learners with disabilities. Within our City campus specifically, we have a large number of international students and people from migrant communities, and our Rotokauri campus has a high representation of Māori and Pacific learners,” Andersen says.

Across two days, two dedicated Stats NZ teams managed to collect an additional 65 census responses which might otherwise have been missed.

Stats NZ senior collector Ross Officer says: “This result beat all of our expectations, and is considered to be nothing less than stellar.”

He especially thanked Wintec English tutor Karen van der Lingen: “[She] marched down no less than about eight of her students to sign up their census forms on the spot. We truly applaud her initiative.”

Census collectors all over New Zealand concluded their work on May 3. Anyone wishing to complete their census forms can still return the paper forms or complete their census forms online.

There will be public events until June 4 to provide face-to-face support to people who received a final notice and need help with their forms.

People who don’t complete the census risk being fined $2000. Anyone who was in Aotearoa New Zealand overnight on March 7 this year is required to complete the census.

So far, 4,478,302 people have returned their forms.