The Government's plan to recover from the fiasco of the 2018 Census is under fire.
Maori say its $210 million budget for Census 2023 is an insult and ignores iwi who backed the Statistics Department's request for a more solid $226 million option.
OIA documents show Stats NZ warned the $210 million option would not improve data quality or usefulness especially from Maori and Pasifika people.
Stats NZ now says rather than aim to make the 2023 Census as good as in 2006, it will try to at least match the weaker 2013 Census.
The Statistics Minister James Shaw says Stats NZ assures him it can run a high quality census.
