Te Uri o Hau signs 2023 Census Community Counts agreement

With the signing of a Community Counts agreement on Friday, Te Uri o Hau became the latest Northland iwi to formally partner with Stats NZ for the 2023 Census.

TeUriHau

24 January 2023

With the signing of a Community Counts agreement on Friday, Te Uri o Hau became the latest Northland iwi to formally partner with Stats NZ for the 2023 Census.

Community Counts is a collaborative initiative aimed at increasing response rates to the 2023 Census, achieved through Stats NZ partnering with community organisations across the motu. Stats NZ and Te Uri o Hau will work together in the weeks leading up to Census Day (Tuesday 7 March 2023) to engage with their rohe about the census and support whānau to complete the census. 

Te Uri o Hau joins a growing list of iwi in Te Tai Tokerau to sign a formal 2023 Census partnership with Stats NZ, with Ngātiwai and Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-Ō-Ngāpuhi already on board through similar agreements. 

“Delivering for and with Māori, iwi, and hapū is a strategic priority for Stats NZ – not just for the 2023 Census, but also to support enduring, long-term relationships with our Te Tiriti partners,” said Stats NZ’s Deputy Government Statistician and Deputy Chief Executive for Census and Collection Operations, Simon Mason. 

“Te Uri o Hau has a strong presence in the community, along with well-established relationships built on trust, for instance through their work engaging with the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to working with them to raise awareness of and drive response to the 2023 Census, across the rohe of Te Uri o Hau, so whānau can be counted and represented.” 

“Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust welcomed the opportunity to join this partnership as we are committed to improving the lives of more than 8,500 registered hāpu whānau. Partnering with Stats NZ in the 2023 Census drive is another way we as a settlement trust can interpret detailed data to best serve our people,” said Adam Taylor, Communications Lead for the Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust. 

“Our whanau who live in the Kaipara would have noticed a decline in many core services, ranging from health, roading, transport, and general services infrastructure. A lot of this decline can be attributed to central government not having census data which can highlight the wants and needs of us who reside in the Kaipara.   

“Moreso than ever it is important for our hāpu whānau to have a voice which can in turn improve livelihoods and better access to core services. The 2023 Census is a major way to obtain that detail. We look forward to aligning some of the ambitions of our people with the more accurate data gathered by the 2023 Census.  

“It certainly made the partnership easier having tangata whenua performing active and engaging census roles across Te Tai Tokerau.” 

What is Community Counts? 

Community Counts is a community-led approach to census engagement and collection. Census engagement staff are working with community leaders and organisations across the motu to design initiatives that will increase response rates from their communities. 

Community Counts initiatives are tailored to the specific circumstances and nature of the communities being engaged. By supporting communities through engagement, resourcing, and capability building and by bringing together multiple stakeholders to shape the collection and engagement approach, Community Counts enables communities to define how they can best be counted in the 2023 Census. 

Georgina Connelly (Deputy Chair / Trustee of Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust) and Simon Mason at the signing of the Community Counts agreement between Stats NZ and Te Uri o Hau.