27 Feb 2007 Speech

Making Statistics Count – speech to mark the farewell of the Government statistician Brian Pink

Venue: The Grand Hall, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
Time: 5.45pm, 27 February 2007

I would like to thank Tu Williams, Chairman of the Maori Statistics Forum, for the kind introduction, and to welcome everyone here tonight. In particular I would like to acknowledge Brian Pink, our Government Statistician and his wife, Elizabeth; the Hon David Caygill, Chairman of my Advisory Committee on Official Statistics; members of the Diplomatic Corps; Sir Frank Holmes, Chairman of The Hugo Group; the Acting Government Statistician, Dallas Welch; and my ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, the Hon Pete Hodgson; the Hon Paul Swain, and the Hon Maurice Williamson – all former Statistics Ministers.

Tonight, of course, we have all gathered here to farewell and honour Brian Pink, who has been the Government Statistician and Chief Executive of Statistics New Zealand since October 2000.

I have had the pleasure of working with Brian since I became the Minister of Statistics in October 2005, and I would like to go over some of his many key achievements under my watch and my predecessors.

However first, I must acknowledge that Brian's outstanding contribution to statistical information development and analysis started long before he moved to our shores for the new Millennium.

Brian's career in official statistics started in his home country of Australia with the then Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics in Sydney in 1966. Over the intervening years his career has taken him to Canberra then to Perth, back to Canberra and, most recently, to Wellington. His new job as the Australian Statistician, in a sense, will bring him full circle back to his roots at the very pinnacle of his profession.

Brian is also President of the International Association for Official Statistics for the 2005-2007 period and New Zealand’s Head of Delegation to the United Nations Statistical Commission.

He is a former member of the recently established Ministerial Advisory Committee on Official Statistics, and a member of the CIO (Chief Information Officer) Magazine Editorial Advisory Board.

Brian's wide range of commitments to statistics outside his main job clearly shows the high value he places on the role of official statistics in society. The Government shares his view. This Government has always stressed the need for evidence and information-based policy, rather than ideology driving what we do.

Access to official statistics provides businesses and citizens with a window on the work and performance of Government itself, allowing the impact of public policies and actions to be assessed. Official statistics also provide a strategic, but underutilized, planning and research resource for business and the wider community.

It would be fair to say that when Brian took the helm as the Government Statistician that our official statistics system had room for improvement.

The 1990's had seen our official statistics system under funded. The reductions in sample sizes and lessened frequency of some surveys to save money weakened the quality of the information required by researchers and decision makers. The high access charges for much of the data also left Statistics New Zealand in a difficult position with those who needed that information.

At the same time other departments had set up their own statistical collections and the necessary staffing and resources to run them, and there was little co-ordination. This led to a range of statistical standards across Government, and duplication.

I am happy to say that today things are very different. As a result of the Government's Top Down Review initiative, which Brian helped lead, we have totally reformed the way we see our Official Statistics System.

We now have a single point of access for statistics for researchers and the public, a respondent load management process, standards and protocols for all government statistics and a definition of what collections are most important, now called Tier 1 Statistics. These measures have helped to remove duplication and ensure the data is accurate and comparable over time.

The end result? We have much greater insight into social and economic trends and issues, and are developing a world-class understanding of who we are and where we are going that will empower Government and business to make better decisions.

The Government's commitment to building a modern, world-class official statistics system is reflected in our 2003 investment of an additional $40 million over four years and then a further $70 million over four years in 2004.

Brian has overseen two Censuses of Population and Dwellings, and the introduction of the first on-line census form in 2006. He has worked to reduce respondent burden and has introduced several new statistical series, which have been sourced and compiled from other existing data collections.

Last year we also launched the Go Stats pilot to encourage small to medium sized companies to use statistics to grow their business, which was warmly received by the business community.

Under Brian's leadership, Statistics New Zealand has moved to a new, environmentally friendly building. Statistics House won the GIB Commercial Office Property Award in 2006, as part of the Property Council of New Zealand Rider Hunt Property Awards, notably for the sustainable practices by which it was constructed, and the energy efficient design.

In closing, on behalf of the Government I would like to thank you Brian for your tireless efforts to establish a world-class official statistics system in New Zealand.
Our business community, our citizens and the management of our country are the better for it. Statistics do count, and you have made sure that Kiwis realise this.

I wish you all the best for the future in your new role as the Australian Statistician. Knowing you to be a keen rugby and cricket fan, the last Chappell-Hadley series must have been tough, but I hope you enjoy cheering on Australia from the other side of the Tasman.

Just before I pass over to the Hon David Caygill to say a few words, Brian, I know how much you enjoy the odd glass or two of red wine, so here is a gift to take back to the other side of the Tasman to show them what New Zealand has to offer.
I know the Australians are famous for their red wines, but no one can beat the Kiwis when it comes to Pinot Noir.

ENDS

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