Official statistics shall be collected to provide information required by the Executive Government of New Zealand, government departments, local authorities, and businesses for the purpose of making policy decisions, and to facilitate the appreciation of economic, social, demographic, and other matters of interest to the said Government, government departments, local authorities, businesses, and to the general public.

In order to co-ordinate as effectively as possible, and to render most useful the official statistics produced, and also to avoid unnecessary duplication of requests for information, all official statistics shall be subject to this Part, except where an exemption is specifically made by regulations made under this Act or by the Minister in writing.

Information may be required of any person in a position to provide it to enable the production of official statistics of any or all of the following kinds:

As soon as practicable after the commencement of this Act, the chief executive of each government department shall inform the Statistician of the official statistics for which that department is responsible. This information may, if the Statistician requires, include details of the concepts, classifications, and schedules used, the statistical methods and procedures employed, the resources employed, the means of publishing the official statistics and all other such matters as the Statistician may require so that he can exercise his duties under this Act; and thereafter an appropriate officer shall advise the Statistician of these matters when any new official statistics or substantial alteration to existing official statistics is being proposed in relation to his department, or when any document that is being used or proposed to be used as the source of official statistics is being amended or drafted.

The Statistician, after discussion with an appropriate officer of the government department concerned, may in any specific or general case, waive or relax, in whole or in part, the duty under subsection (1) in respect of that government department.

In the case of a disagreement between the parties in any discussion pursuant to subsection (2), the Minister shall decide the matter.

No government department shall commence or commission any statistical survey or make a substantial alteration to an already existing survey without the written approval of the Minister:

All applications for approval to conduct a statistical survey or make substantial alteration to an existing one shall be made in terms of paragraph (g) or paragraph (h) of section 14.

Statistical surveys of the kind provided for by this Act that are being collected, compiled, analysed, abstracted, or published by or on behalf of the department or by any other government department at the commencement of this Act shall continue to be collected, compiled, analysed, abstracted, and published by the department or the other government department that was collecting, compiling, analysing, abstracting, or publishing them at the commencement of this Act as if they had been approved by the Minister in terms of this Act unless and until the Minister, after receiving a report from the Statistician, made after consultation with an appropriate officer of the government department concerned, decides otherwise.

The Statistician shall from time to time review the collection, compilation, analysis, abstraction, and publication of official statistics prepared by his own department and by other government departments.

Any government department shall, within a reasonable time after receiving notification in writing from the Statistician that a review as provided for in subsection (1) is to be made, provide such reasonable facilities as are necessary to facilitate completion of the review.

Official statistics may be collected by means of the statistical procedure known as sampling, in place of a full enumeration, where the use of that method is considered appropriate.

The fact that, because of any sampling procedure, only a portion of a particular group of persons is required to fill in a schedule or to answer any inquiry shall not be a defence to the failure of any person to fill in that schedule or to answer that inquiry if so required by any Act.

The Statistician, after consultation with an appropriate officer of the other government department, local authority, or statutory body (whether corporate or unincorporated) concerned, may recommend to the Minister that an agreement be made by the Statistician with any other government department, local authority, or statutory body (whether corporate or unincorporated) for information that they have authority to collect to be collected jointly by the department and the other government department, local authority, or statutory body (whether corporate or unincorporated), and that this information be exchanged as between the agreeing parties to the agreement:

provided that:

Any employee of any government department, local authority, or statutory body shall, if engaged in the joint collection of information or the processing of information collected in a joint collection, make a declaration of secrecy similar to the declaration of secrecy prescribed by section 21.

A declaration of secrecy shall be required under subsection (2) regardless of whether the employee has made a declaration of secrecy under any other Act.

The Statistician shall, at least every 5 years, convene a meeting of users of official statistics to review user needs for such statistics.

The Statistician may also hold other meetings, and set up committees, of statisticians, suppliers or users of statistics, and other interested parties, either to further the provisions of this Act or for general educational purposes, at his own initiative or on sufficient request.

It shall be the duty of all persons who undertake to collect or compile official statistics to comply with the provisions of this Part, and of such other sections of this Act as are applicable to them.

There shall be a department of State to be called Statistics New Zealand.

The department is the same department as that existing immediately before the coming into force of the Statistics Amendment Act 1994 and known as the Department of Statistics.

There shall from time to time be appointed under the Public Service Act 2020 an officer to be called the Government Statistician, who shall be the administrative head of, and control, the department and have such functions, duties, and powers as are conferred or imposed on him by this Act or any other Act.

The duties of the Statistician shall be:

The Statistician shall have the sole responsibility for deciding the procedures and methods employed in the provision of any statistics produced or to be produced by the Statistician, and shall also have the sole responsibility for deciding the extent, form, and timing of publication of those statistics.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), where, at the direction of the Minister, the Statistician is required to collect or cease collection of statistics of any kind provided for by this Act and the Statistician would not without such a requisition produce or cease production of those statistics, he shall carry out the direction of the Minister, but the Statistician in such circumstances may make public without comment the fact that the statistics have been collected and published, or that collection and publication has ceased, at the direction of the Minister.

The Statistician shall, as soon as practicable after the close of each financial year, furnish to the Minister a report on the administration of this Act during the financial year.

The report shall be laid by the Minister before Parliament as soon as practicable after its receipt by him.

There shall from time to time be appointed under the Public Service Act 2020 as many Deputy Government Statisticians as may be necessary for the effective and efficient carrying out of the functions and duties of the department.

Subject to the control of the Statistician, each Deputy Government Statistician shall perform such general official duties (including the exercise of functions, duties, and powers of the Statistician) as are for the time being assigned to him by the Statistician.

On the occurrence from any cause of a vacancy in the office of Statistician (whether by reason of death, resignation, or otherwise) and in the case of absence from duty of the Statistician (from whatever cause arising), and so long as any such vacancy or absence continues, a Deputy Government Statistician shall have and may exercise all the functions, duties, and powers of the Statistician.

The fact that a Deputy Government Statistician exercises any function, duty, or power of the Statistician shall be conclusive evidence of the authority of that Deputy Government Statistician to do so.

There shall from time to time be appointed under the Public Service Act 2020 such other employees of the department as may be required for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

The Statistician may employ from time to time—

The duties of the persons appointed under subsection (1) shall be such as the Statistician determines.

No person shall be deemed by reason only of his employment under this section to be employed in the service of Her Majesty for the purposes of the Public Service Act 2020 or the Government Superannuation Fund Act 1956.

Any document purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Statistician and giving notice that any employee of the department named therein is acting under the authority of the Statistician or setting forth any instructions to any employee of the department named therein shall, unless the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence of that authority or those instructions, as the case may be, and that the document was signed and addressed as it purports to be.

The stamped or printed signature of the Statistician, or any employee of the department, may be used on any schedule, certificate, notice, or other document in relation to the exercise by that person of his powers, duties, and functions under this Act.

Any schedule, certificate, notice, or other document purporting to bear the written, stamped, or printed signature of the Statistician, or any employee of the department shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been duly signed by the person whose signature it purports to bear.

Judicial notice shall be taken of every such signature and of the fact that the person whose signature it purports to be, holds or has held the office of Statistician, or is or has been an employee of the department, as the case may be.

Every employee of the department, before entering on his duties, shall take and subscribe a statutory declaration in the following form:

“

I, [name], solemnly and sincerely declare that I will faithfully and honestly fulfil my duties as an employee of Statistics New Zealand in conformity with the requirements of the Statistics Act 1975 and of all regulations thereunder, and that any information acquired by me as an employee of that department will,—

(a)

during my employment in that department, be disclosed by me only in accordance with my official duty; and

(b)

after I cease to be an employee of that department, be disclosed by me only with the authority of the department.””

Any employee of any government department, if engaged in the collection and processing of official statistics, and if the information so collected is primarily for statistical purposes and the respondent has been so informed shall, subject to agreement with an appropriate officer of the department concerned, if required to do so by the Statistician, make a similar statutory declaration of secrecy, regardless of whether he has made a declaration of secrecy under any other Act.

An employee in the department responsible for the administration of the Public Records Act 2005 who has access to public records that are subject to the restriction of section 37(2) must, if required to do so by the Statistician, make a similar declaration of secrecy, whether or not that person has made a declaration of secrecy under any other Act.

An employee who has made a statutory declaration of secrecy under subsection (2) of this section or subsection (2)(b) of section 37C shall be deemed to be an employee of the department for the purposes of—

In respect of subsections (2) and (3) of section 37, subsection (3) of this section shall relate only to the statistical collections with which the employee is associated.

Every independent contractor engaged by the department under any contract (other than a contract of employment), and every employee of any such independent contractor, who is likely, in the course of carrying out the terms of that contract, to have access to information collected under the authority of this Act shall, if required to do so by the Statistician, make a statutory declaration of secrecy similar to the declaration of secrecy prescribed by subsection (1), regardless of whether that independent contractor or employee has made a declaration of secrecy under any other Act.

A person who has made a statutory declaration of secrecy under subsection (3B) shall be deemed to be an employee of the department for the purposes of—

A statutory declaration for the purposes of this section may be made before any person authorised for that purpose by or under the Oaths and Declarations Act 1957 or before any other person authorised for that purpose by the Statistician; and the provisions of that Act shall apply in relation to any such declaration as if any person so authorised by the Statistician were so authorised by that Act.

Every statutory declaration that is made for the purposes of this section shall be returned and recorded in such manner as the Statistician determines.

The provisions of this Part shall apply with respect to the quinquennial census of population and dwellings, and to any statistical inquiry taken directly with and as a part of that census; and, with respect to any matter not provided for in this Part, the provisions in the other Parts relating to statistics generally shall, so far as they are applicable, apply with respect to that census and any such inquiry.

The census of population and dwellings of New Zealand shall be taken by the department in the year 2013 and in every fifth year thereafter.

The day on which the census of population shall be taken and the time with reference to which the particulars shall relate shall be appointed by the Governor-General by Proclamation.

At a suitable time after the Proclamation made under subsection (2), the Statistician must publish, in whichever newspapers and by whichever other means the Statistician considers sufficient for notifying the public of New Zealand, the following information about the census:

A Proclamation under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

Despite subsection (2), in the case of the 2013 census of population and dwellings, the Statistician must, by notice given in the Gazette as soon as practicable after the commencement of this subsection, appoint the day on which the census must be taken and the time with reference to which the particulars must relate.

The notice given under subsection (4) must be treated for all purposes as a Proclamation made under subsection (2), and subsection (3) applies with the necessary modifications.

At every census of population and dwellings particulars relating to all of the following matters shall be obtained from every occupier or person in charge of a dwelling:

At any census of population and dwellings, the Statistician may, if he considers it in the public interest so to do, obtain from every occupier or person in charge of a dwelling particulars relating to all or any of the following additional matters:

A person who for any reason has not received either a schedule relating to a census of population and dwellings, or a means to access an electronic schedule, must obtain either a schedule, or a means to access an electronic schedule, in accordance with the details published by the Statistician of how to obtain a schedule.

A person who obtains a schedule, or a means to access an electronic schedule under subsection (1), must—

The fact that neither a schedule, nor a means to access an electronic schedule, was delivered to a person is not a defence to a prosecution under this Act for failure to fill in a schedule.

It shall be the duty of every occupier or person in charge of a dwelling to ensure that the particulars demanded in the schedules relating to any census of population and dwellings are furnished with respect to every person abiding in the dwelling of which he is the occupier or person in charge on the day of the census and who is alive at midnight at the end of that day, and who, not being already included in any other census schedule, arrived in that dwelling after that midnight and before midday on the day following.

If a person in respect of whom particulars are required to be furnished under subsection  (1) chooses to fill in and return an electronic schedule, the occupier or person in charge of the dwelling may comply with his or her duty under subsection (1) by—

Subsection (2B) applies if, either,—

If this subsection applies, the person in respect of whom particulars are required to be furnished under subsection (1) must—

An occupier or a person in charge of a dwelling who is asked under subsection (2B)(a) to supply a paper schedule to a person must make reasonable endeavours to do so.

Any person in respect of whom particulars are required to be furnished under subsection (1), and who is not a member of the family of the occupier or person in charge of the dwelling, must—

A person who fills in a schedule pursuant to subsection (2D)(a) must,—

A person who is aged 15 years or over may deliver a paper schedule that he or she filled in pursuant to subsection (2D)(a) to the occupier or person in charge of the dwelling in a sealed envelope endorsed with the following information:

Every occupier or person in charge or census collector who opens any such envelope commits an offence against this Act:

Where a dwelling is occupied by 2 or more persons jointly, the duty imposed on the occupier or person in charge as to the furnishing of the particulars of the dwelling schedule for the census of population and dwellings shall lie upon the occupiers or persons in charge severally, save that the performance of the duty of the occupier or person in charge by one of the joint occupiers or persons in charge shall discharge the obligation of the other or others.

The Statistician shall obtain the required particulars in respect of persons not abiding in any dwelling on the night of the census of population and dwellings in such manner as he determines.

Every person who can be lawfully required to provide such information pursuant to this Part shall, on being required so to do, furnish to the best of his knowledge and belief the required particulars relating to persons who were not abiding in any dwelling on the night of the census of population and dwellings.

Unless specifically stated to the contrary, the provisions of this Part shall apply only to the statistics collected pursuant to this Act by the Statistician.

The Statistician shall design and use such schedules as he sees fit for collecting the statistics authorised by this Act to be collected, and shall lay down for all such schedules the instructions and procedures necessary for the proper distribution, filling in, and return thereof.

Any document purporting to be a schedule authorised pursuant to this Act for use in the collection of statistics or related information, or to set forth any instructions relative thereto, which is produced by any employee of the department, or by any other person with authority delegated to him by or under any other Act mentioned in the schedule, as being such a schedule or as setting forth such instructions, shall be deemed to have been supplied by the Statistician to the employee of the department or other such person so producing it, and shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence that all instructions therein set forth have been duly issued by or on behalf of the Statistician.

Delivery to any person of a schedule for the purposes of this Act is effected by delivering to that person, by any of the methods described in subsection (2),—

A schedule, or the means to access an electronic schedule, may be delivered—

The time that delivery of a schedule or the means to access an electronic schedule is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, deemed to be effected is,—

If a schedule purporting to be issued under this Act, or the means to access an electronic schedule, is delivered in accordance with section 30 to a person, together with a notice that the schedule must be filled in and returned to the department within a stated time, that person must,—

If a schedule purporting to be issued under this Act, or the means to access an electronic schedule, is delivered in accordance with section 30 at any dwelling or part of a dwelling, together with a notice that the schedule must be filled in by the occupier of the dwelling or part of a dwelling, or in his or her absence by some other member of the household, and must be returned to the department within a stated time, the occupier must ensure that—

Subsection (2) applies whether or not the occupier, or any other member of the household,—

If a schedule purporting to be issued under this Act, or the means to access an electronic schedule, is delivered in accordance with section 30 at any factory, farm, mine, workshop, office, or place of business or other activity of any person, or to that person’s agent, or to the occupier of that factory, farm, mine, workshop, office, or place, together with a notice that the schedule must be filled in by that person or that occupier and must be returned to the department within a stated time, that person or that occupier must—

Subsection (3) applies whether or not the person or the occupier—

Where a respondent has been duly requested to provide information and maintains that he has done so and the Statistician has no record of its receipt, the Statistician may supply the respondent with a further copy of the relevant schedule or the means to access an electronic schedule and require him by a further written request to supply the information as originally requested, and the provisions of subsections (1), (2), and (3) shall apply as if this was an original request.

Where a respondent has been duly requested to provide information in a schedule delivered to him and either has not supplied all the information required, or the information supplied is inadequate or the Statistician requires the information supplied to be clarified or explained, the Statistician may, by notice in writing delivered to the respondent, require the respondent to supply the information originally required or to clarify the information supplied, as the case may be.

The respondent to whom a notice under subsection (4A) is delivered shall supply the information or provide clarification of or such explanation with reference to the information supplied, as the case may be, in such manner as may be required by the notice.

If the Statistician publishes by advertisement in the Gazette, and in such newspapers as may appear to the Statistician to be sufficient for notifying the persons concerned, a list of any classes or descriptions of undertakings in relation to which returns will be required for the purposes of a particular census under this Act, it shall be the duty of the person in charge of each undertaking of any such class or description as aforesaid, who has not received a schedule or the means to access an electronic schedule under section 30, to inform the Statistician within such period, being not less than 21 days after the date of publication of the advertisement, as may be specified therein, that such an undertaking as aforesaid exists, and to give the Statistician such prescribed particulars of the undertaking as may be so specified.

Every person from whom particulars for the purposes of any statistical inquiry may lawfully be required pursuant to this Act shall, to the best of his knowledge, when required so to do by the Statistician, or by any employee of the department authorised in writing by or on behalf of the Statistician, fill in and supply, in accordance with the instructions contained in or accompanying or having reference to any schedule, the particulars specified in that schedule, and, where the form of the schedule contains any certificate or declaration by the person filling in the schedule, shall complete and sign that certificate or declaration in accordance with those instructions.

Every person who can be lawfully required to provide information pursuant to this Act shall, for the purpose of providing that information, to the best of his knowledge and belief, answer all questions asked him by the Statistician, or by any employee of the department authorised in writing by or on behalf of the Statistician.

This section applies to the collection of statistics by the statistician under this Part or under an agreement made by the statistician under section 9.

The statistician may waive the application of all or any of sections 31, 32, and 33 to the collection of particular statistics if satisfied that—

To avoid doubt, if the statistician has granted a waiver under subsection (2) in relation to any question, any person who would otherwise be required to answer the question does not commit an offence against section 43 if the person declines to answer the question.

A waiver under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

The provisions of this Act relating to the filling in, signing, and returning to the department of schedules and the answering of questions shall, in the case of a person residing outside New Zealand or a corporation incorporated outside New Zealand and in either case carrying on business in New Zealand, be complied with by the manager, attorney, or other agent of that person or corporation in New Zealand.

Subject to subsections (2) and (3), for the purpose of making any inquiries or observations necessary for obtaining the statistics to be collected under the authority of this Act, the Statistician, or any employee of the department authorised in writing by him, may,—

The Statistician and any employee of the department authorised in writing by him as aforesaid shall not exercise any of the powers conferred by subsection (1) unless—

Where any District Court Judge or Justice or Community Magistrate is satisfied, on application in writing made on oath, that there is reasonable ground for believing that it is necessary for the purpose of making any inquiries or observations necessary for obtaining the statistics to be collected under the authority of this Act for the Statistician or any employee of the department authorised in writing by him to exercise, in relation to any factory, farm, mine, workshop, office, or place of business any of the powers conferred by subsection (1)(a) or in relation to any person any of the powers conferred by subsection (1)(b), he may, by warrant under his hand, authorise the Statistician or any such employee of the department to exercise those powers in relation to that factory, farm, mine, workshop, office, or place of business or in relation to that person, as the case may require.

Every warrant issued under subsection (3) shall authorise the person named in the warrant,—

Every such warrant shall continue in force until the purpose for which it was granted has been satisfied.

The Statistician or any employee of the department authorised in writing by the Statistician to exercise any of the powers conferred by paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) shall,—

Where any person is prosecuted for failure to produce any books of account, vouchers, documents, or other business records when required to do so under paragraph (b) of subsection (1), it shall be a defence to prove that he did not have the custody of the same at the time of the requisition and did not subsequently acquire the custody thereof.

Where necessary to determine precisely the specifications of goods the price or description of which is material to the exercise of his duties under this Act, the Statistician may make test purchases of the goods.

Information furnished to the Statistician under this Act shall only be used for statistical purposes.

No person other than an employee of the department who has made the statutory declaration specified in section 21 shall be permitted to see any individual schedule or any answer to any question put under this Act except for the purposes of a prosecution or a proposed prosecution under this Act.

No information contained in any individual schedule and no answer to any question put for the purposes of this Act shall, except for the purposes of a prosecution or a proposed prosecution under this Act, be separately published or disclosed to any undertaking or to any person not being an employee of the department who has made the statutory declaration specified in section 21.

All statistical information published by the Statistician shall be arranged in such a manner as to prevent any particulars published from being identifiable by any person (other than the person by whom those particulars were supplied) as particulars relating to any particular person or undertaking, unless—

For the purposes of subsection (4), the Statistician shall make such office rules as he considers necessary.

Subsections (2) and (3) apply notwithstanding any provision contained in the Customs and Excise Act 2018, the Tax Administration Act 1994 or any other Act.

Notwithstanding section 37, the Statistician may disclose the following information:

Notwithstanding section 37, particulars of any information collected jointly with a government department, local authority, or statutory body (whether corporate or unincorporated), pursuant to an agreement under section 9 and information collected under any enactment other than this Act and processed by the department may be disclosed to that government department, local authority, or statutory body, and a completed or partly completed schedule obtained or an answer to any question put in the course of a joint collection, may be disclosed to any employee of that government department, local authority, or statutory body who has made a statutory declaration similar to the declaration of secrecy prescribed by section 21.

Despite section 37, the Statistician may disclose individual schedules to any person if—

An individual schedule must not be disclosed under this section unless—

The published results of any such research or statistical project shall not divulge any more information than the Statistician could publish under this Part.

Every person to whom individual schedules are disclosed under this section must—

Despite section 37, the Statistician may authorise the disclosure, after 100 years, of individual schedules (whether provided under Part 3 or otherwise) that the Statistician has classified as historical documents, after having regard to the advice of the Chief Archivist.

Despite sections 37 and 37C, on and from the date of the transfer under section 22(3)(a) of the Public Records Act 2005 of individual schedules provided to the Statistician under Part 3, the Statistician must authorise, solely for statistical purposes, the disclosure of those individual schedules.

An individual schedule must not be disclosed under this section unless—

The published results of a statistical project referred to in subsection (2) must not divulge more information than the Statistician could publish under this Part.

In respect of the statistical information that the Statistician collects pursuant to this Act, where such information from individual schedules, worksheets, or any other confidential source is to be copied or recorded by means of cards, tapes, discs, wires, films, or any other method, whether using encoded or plain language symbols for the processing, storage, or reproduction of particulars, the Statistician is hereby empowered to take and shall take such steps as are necessary to ensure that the security provisions in this Act are complied with.

For the purposes of this section,—

Notwithstanding section 37, but subject to subsection (3), the Statistician is authorised—

Disclosure, pursuant to subsection (2), of the name and address of any farmer or wool grower may take place only where—

The Meat Board shall use the index or list supplied to it under subsection (2)(a) only—

Every person commits an offence who, being a person who has received an index or list supplied to the Meat Board under subsection (2) for any of the purposes referred to in subsection (4) or subsection (5), delivers that index or list to any other person for a purpose not connected with those purposes or uses any information acquired by him from that index or list for a purpose not connected with those purposes.

Except in respect of a prosecution under this Act, no return made pursuant to this Act and no copy of a schedule or return in the possession of the respondent shall be disclosed or used as evidence in any proceedings whatever, and no person who has completed a statutory declaration under section 21 shall be compellable in any proceedings whatever to give oral testimony regarding the return or to produce any return, document, or record with respect to any information obtained in the course of administering this Act, except in the manner provided by this Act.

Every person employed in the execution of any duty or the exercise of any power or function under this Act commits an offence who,—

Every person commits an offence who interferes with, hinders, or obstructs the Statistician or any employee of the department in the exercise of any power conferred by this Act.

Every person commits an offence who, not being an employee of the department, by words, conduct, or demeanour, pretends that he is an employee of the department or assumes the name, designation, or description of an employee of the department.

Every person commits an offence who fails to produce any books of account, vouchers, documents, or other business records when lawfully required so to do, or who neglects or refuses to fill in and supply the particulars required in any schedule lawfully left with or sent to him, or who neglects or refuses to answer any question or inquiry lawfully addressed to him by the Statistician, or by an employee of the department authorised in writing by the Statistician, and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $500 or, in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $2,000.

The conviction of any person of an offence against subsection (1) or against this subsection in relation to his failure to produce any books of account, vouchers, documents, or other business records, or to his neglect or refusal to fill in and supply any particulars required in any such schedules or to answer any such question or inquiry, shall not relieve him of his obligation to supply such books of account, vouchers, documents, or other business records, or to fill in and supply the particulars or to answer the question or inquiry; and if, after the expiration of 14 days from the date of the conviction, he still has failed to produce the books of account, vouchers, documents, or other business records lawfully requested, or he continues to neglect or refuse to fill in and supply the particulars or to answer the question or inquiry, he commits a further offence and is liable on conviction in respect of each day after the expiration of those 14 days to a fine not exceeding $20 or, in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $80.

Any obligation imposed on any person to produce any books of account, vouchers, documents, or other business records when lawfully required to do so, or to fill in and supply the particulars required in any schedule lawfully left with or sent to him, or to answer any question or inquiry lawfully addressed to him by the Statistician, or by an employee of the department authorised in writing by the Statistician, being an obligation required to be performed at or within a specified or particular time, shall be deemed to be a continuing obligation to produce such books of account, vouchers, documents, or other business records, or to fill in and supply any particulars required in any such schedule, or to answer any such question or inquiry, notwithstanding that the obligation has not been performed at or within that time.

No person who objects to state the religious denomination or sect to which he belongs shall commit an offence by refusing to supply that information if he inserts or causes to be inserted in the space on the schedule provided for the information the word “object”.

Except with the prior approval of the Statistician, a reference in the response to any schedule to any other document from which the required information can be obtained shall be deemed not be a compliance with the provisions of this section.

Every person commits an offence who knowingly makes, in any schedule filled in or supplied pursuant to this Act, or in answer to any question asked him under the authority of this Act, any false or misleading statement or any material omission.

Every person commits an offence who, without lawful excuse, destroys, defaces, removes, or mutilates any schedule, form, or other document containing particulars collected under this Act or requesting any such particulars.

Every person to whom individual schedules are disclosed under section 37C commits an offence who knowingly contravenes—

A person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $500 or, in the case of a body corporate, not exceeding $2,000.

Every person commits an offence who,—

In any proceedings for an offence against any of the provisions of this Act, a certificate in writing signed by the Statistician certifying—

shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be sufficient evidence that pursuant to section 6, the Minister has approved the commencement or commissioning of any statistical survey, or the making of a substantial alteration to an already existing survey, or has waived or relaxed the duty under section 6(1) in respect of a government department, as the case may be, or that pursuant to section 14(d), the Minister has approved the collection of information concerning any or all of the matters specified in section 4.

Every person who commits an offence against this Act for which no penalty is prescribed elsewhere than in this section is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $500 or, in the case of a body corporate, not exceeding $2,000.

Despite anything to the contrary in section 25 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, the limitation period in respect of an offence against this Act ends on the date that is 12 months after the date on which the offence was committed.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for all or any of the following purposes:

Regulations under subsection (1) are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, do all or any of the following things:

An Order in Council under subsection (2) is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

The Statistics Act 1955 is hereby repealed.

The regulations specified in the Schedule are hereby revoked.