Hon Maurice Williamson
Minister of Statistics
12 February 2013 Media Statement

Government Statistician’s contribution valued

Statistics Minister Maurice Williamson says the resignation of Government Statistician Geoff Bascand leaves a big gap to fill.

Mr Bascand has resigned to take up a position at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. He finishes at Statistics New Zealand on May 24th.

“Geoff Bascand has been the Government Statistician ever since I became Statistics Minister. In the four years we’ve worked together I’ve been grateful for his advice and determination to make statistics useful,” Mr Williamson says.

“Like me, Geoff is keen to see new technologies used to achieve better use of statistics. In his time at the helm, he has led a very successful transformation programme, which is achieving great results and will continue to do so.

“Trustworthy and reliable statistics are incredibly important and Geoff has focused strongly on maintaining and enhancing what is produced. He has also led the Official Statistics System, which includes top level statistics produced across government.”

The State Services Commission will be responsible for appointing a replacement Government Statistician and Chief Executive of Statistics NZ.

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Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
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