Stats NZ have finally released the full data of the botched 2023 census. There are lots of things you can glean from it, such as the inclusion of sexuality data showing that nearly 12% of Wellington is gay, which makes sense if you think about it. The ethnicity data is also interesting, all part of the "Aotearoa Data Explorer".
Only around 56% were European New Zealander, a further 8% Anglo-Maori and 4% other mixed European New Zealanders, bringing the total to around 68% if we're being generous. There is some contention of the use of the term European here, but it has a long history and should be seen as synonymous with "New Zealander" or "White New Zealander".
When it comes to electoral law calculations, anyone who ticks a Maori box is treated as Maori for the purpose of representation, around 17% of the population.
When it comes to those identifying as Maori only, I think we get a better view of the place the Maori Party has in current polling. Just over 7% of the population identifies as purely Maori and recent polling puts TPM's support at between 4-6%. An outright majority of "true" Maori support the Maori Party and its policy.
Then we get to the rest of the population, around 6% are Pacific Islanders and 16% are Asian (mostly Chinese, Indian, and Filipino) with the remaining 3% having some other non-European ethnic identity.
If we prioritise those identifying with the "New Zealand" ethnicity in some form, we get the following distribution designed to add up to 100%:
When it comes to electoral law calculations, anyone who ticks a Maori box is treated as Maori for the purpose of representation, around 17% of the population.
When it comes to those identifying as Maori only, I think we get a better view of the place the Maori Party has in current polling. Just over 7% of the population identifies as purely Maori and recent polling puts TPM's support at between 4-6%. An outright majority of "true" Maori support the Maori Party and its policy.
Then we get to the rest of the population, around 6% are Pacific Islanders and 16% are Asian (mostly Chinese, Indian, and Filipino) with the remaining 3% having some other non-European ethnic identity.
If we prioritise those identifying with the "New Zealand" ethnicity in some form, we get the following distribution designed to add up to 100%:
- 68% New Zealander (56% European, 8% Anglo-Maori, 4% other)
- 16% Asian
- 7% Maori (add 10% for calculating Maori Electorates)
- 6% Pacific Islander
- 3% Other
Now we must talk a little about the multicultural strategy of our political parties, because this census data is very important to them and their electoral policy.
We can use Filipinos as an example. Please note that I am not singling them out, but public comments from the Filipino MP Paulo Garcai were the first to come across my desk. This is simply an example and in the following section you can swap out "Filipino" with any Asian ethnic group of your choice.
"We are more than just a growing number—we are a growing voice in New Zealand. The Filipino community is becoming an integral part of this country’s future, and I am dedicated to ensuring that this voice is heard in Parliament and beyond."
Paulo Garcia is an MP who represents foreign interests in Parliament for the National Party and is a "proud Filipino New Zealander". I'm not singling him out, but using him as an illustration. There are many others. This is a deliberate strategy by National. 100,000 Filipino votes that you can count on are nice in an election. All they want in return is to ensure their ethnic interests are being met. The socially conservative faction in National are in favour, as these migrants are largely Roman Catholic. The Roman Catholic church is happy too, by some estimates over half its weekly church attendees are foreign-born.
"The Filipino community’s influence will only continue to grow, and I’m proud to be part of a movement that strengthens New Zealand’s multicultural identity."
To place this into perspective, The Philippines is a wonderful ethnically diverse and multicultural country that has multiple active violent racial conflicts raging. The only silver lining perhaps is that a society which looks like the Philippines occasionally produces an electorate desperate enough to vote for strong men like Rodrigo Duterte to give them a reprieve from the chaos.
Fun, but not exactly what I want my country to look like.
I spoke with Harry Richardson from the British Australian Community on RCR recently, have a listen if you if you want to understand identity politics. He points out that you cannot stop multiculturalism by ignoring it. Instead you too must become part of the multicultural community. If you choose not to participate then you simply lose. The only way to defeat identity politics is with your own identity politics that creates and solidifies a super-majority position or you will be swept away with the tide.
Dieuwe is the editor of Right Minds NZ. - where this article was sourced. In addition to conservative politics and reactionary thought, he likes books, gardening, biking, tech, reformed theology, beauty, and tradition.
4 comments:
I don't understand the point of this article. Why was the census botched?
The Post editorial for 5 October (The growing diversity of our population) expends one third of the space quoting 2023 census figures on the population makeup in New Zealand, with the remaining two-thirds declaiming about the variety of languages spoken and predictable praise for growth in the use of Maori language, together with less than subtle criticism about historical immigration policies. Missing is commentary on the strange nature of the ethnicity question in Figure 29 of the census: i.e., Which ethnic group do you belong to? Select all that apply (italics mine). Choices are: NZ European, then Maori, Samoan, Cook Island Maori, Tongan, Niuean, Chinese, Indian, then ‘other’; e.g., Dutch, Japanese, Tokelauan. If one is a mix of NZ European and Maori, which could be claimed with all Maori today, how would such a choice be analysed? Is the person European or Maori? I suspect the latter would be the choice made because of the subsequent emphasis on iwi affiliation in figures 29-34 of the census. This all implies analytical bias; there is no option for Europeans to delineate their descent and ancestry, factors that are just as vitally important and valuable to such members of our population, myself included.
I would like to add that the 2023 census was a farce; instead of being a 'snapshot' in time, it ran from 7 March to 30 June, such that it is certain some of its measures would have changed over that nearly 4 month period. There was an incomplete response too, with just 86% of the population covered (and 75% of maori). We used to have compulsory involvement; not any more and with the poor overall thought given to the census forms, poor overall results were the outcome.
Indeed that census was a farce. It needs to be run as before. People calling at each address - here are the papers, answer - or else ( no benefit) ethnicity limits defined to third generation only, one week max. Do it!
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