Stats NZ has asked an independent external party to investigate allegations of misuse of census data collected for the 2023 Census.

Last year Stats NZ partnered with Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to lift low response rates from Māori in Auckland.

The collection operations with non-responding and partial-responding Māori households were led by Te Pae Herenga o Tāmaki. As part of this, Whānau Ora worked with Manurewa Marae.

Late last week Stats NZ received allegations relating to the inappropriate use of census data collected at Manurewa Marae.

The Sunday Star Times reported the accounts of ex-marae workers who collected census forms last year who claim private data from the forms was photocopied and entered into a database and then used to target voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate.

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere strongly denied the allegations, calling for anyone to produce “hard evidence.”

Manurewa Marae chief executive was Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp.

“We are taking these allegations very seriously,” Government Statistician and Stats NZ Chief Executive Mark Sowden said.

“It is paramount that the information collected via census forms or any Stats NZ survey is kept private, secure, and confidential, and that it is only used for the purposes in which it is collected.”

The security of this information is so important it is protected by the Data and Statistics Act 2022 and the Privacy Act 2020.

Sowden is encouraging anyone with information relating to the allegations to contact Stats NZ.

“We would encourage anyone with concerns of this nature to contact me via [email protected]. Alternatively, they can contact the Police or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner,” Sowden said.