what is a new zealander?

from the herald

Despite almost half a million people claiming their ethnicity as "New Zealander" in the last census, Statistics New Zealand is opposed to making the grouping official.

"Initial consultation and research suggests that including a New Zealander tick-box would alter the meaning of the question so it is more about nationality and less about ethnicity," statistician Geoff Bascand said. "This could affect the accuracy and usefulness of the data collected."

In the 2006 census 11.1 per cent of people gave New Zealander as their response when asked to which ethnic group they belonged.

It was the third largest grouping after New Zealand European and Maori, and jumped from 2.4 per cent in 2001. But New Zealander does not have its own category and falls under "other".

In 1996 Pakeha was bracketed next to New Zealand European but was dropped after some adverse reaction. A high-profile campaign in 2006 sought to get New Zealander its own tick-box, but the status quo remained.

A Statistics New Zealand discussion paper issued yesterday recommends no changes to the ethnicity question for the 2011 census.

It says that, of those who wrote New Zealander, 90 per cent would come under the New Zealand European group.

Academics say the desire to drop the "European" element shows a search for a new identity.

However, Auckland University geography senior lecturer Ward Friesen said that, if more people responded as being New Zealanders, ethnic data would become useless because it was non-specific.

The ethnic groups in the census include Maori, Pacific people, Chinese and Indians. The data is used particularly for planning health and social services.

But Dr Friesen said New Zealand European was not always the most appropriate term, especially for new migrants or those whose families had lived in New Zealand for generations.

Wellington School of Medicine associate professor Tony Blakely agreed: "We are in desperate need of a word that describes those who would fall under New Zealand European."

Statistics NZ is seeking public feedback until May 25.

there has been some discussion over this. what does it mean to be a new zealander. the term pakeha is actually becoming offesnsive to some people, being as it means, alternatly, foreigner, european, or (more offensivly) white pig.

the declamaton on the census of nz european is not suitable as many new zealanders have never been to europe. how many ancestors, they ask, have to have been born in this country before we become a race of our own?

interestingly, there are also some grumbles of another category-that of asian. indians are not the same as chinese and so on

i wonder whether this question is still appropriate. maybe it was a couple of generations ago, when much of the population were immigrants, but the fact that a number of people are identifying themselves as kiwis (myself included), perhaps this is no longer relevant.

what it does say is that maybe the population are starting to see themselves as one people.