Why the ‘New Zealand European’ tick-box on forms like the census has to go

READER REPORT: We are Kahu and Lucy. We are New Zealanders, we think. But this week, the census tells us that one of us may not be.

Excited to complete the 2023 census, like any other civically-engaged citizen, we reach the question “Which ethnic group do you belong to?”

The options nudge me (Kahu) to tick the New Zealand European and Māori boxes, as I have ancestry from both Europe and Aotearoa.

Lucy’s ancestors are from China; the form has a box for her: “Chinese.” But, wait … Why am I ticking “New Zealand European” if she doesn’t get to tick “New Zealand Chinese”? Why does “New Zealand” not precede any racial group but European?

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Aotearoa’s first census took place in 1851, when only New Zealanders of European descent were surveyed.

While our national effort at collecting complete population data has come a long way since then, our ethnocentric approach to national identity seems, sadly, still stuck in those earlier times.

Do I (Lucy) deserve the New Zealand label less than Kahu because my ancestors are Chinese and his are British? Are Kahu’s British ancestors just more important?

Reserving the “New Zealand” label for one ethnic group seems to be a subliminal, yet shockingly literal, message that our national identity is tied to being white.

It seems like only New Zealanders of European descent are true New Zealanders, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The “New Zealand European” ethnic category has been controversial in the past. In the 2006 census, over 400,000 people simply listed “New Zealander” as their ethnicity, with a majority of these self-identifications likely coming from New Zealanders of European descent.

This number may have declined in recent censuses, but the drive for many European New Zealanders to monopolise the national identity title for themselves remains harmful and, unfortunately, unquestioned by many.

The solution is not to add “New Zealand” to the names of all ethnic groups.

As all New Zealanders share this same nationality, this qualifier is unnecessary.

Ultimately, just one minor amendment to our census categories could elevate all of Aotearoa’s diverse communities to the same level of belonging – the removal of the words “New Zealand” from the European ethnicity.

The census is the one place that needs to get it right.

In the face of Government policy that has othered non-white New Zealanders for centuries, the Government has more than enough to make up for.

Non-European New Zealanders have always faced higher barriers in proving they belong to this country than Europeans.

The infamous Dawn Raids of the 1970s targeted Pacific communities, and even Māori were asked by a Police Chief Superintendent to carry passports to prove their citizenship, along with anyone else who “looks as though he was not born in this country”. In contrast, there were no reported raids or random stops on people of European descent, despite a majority of overstayers at the time being from Europe, Australia and South Africa.

The Asiatic Restriction Act of 1896 aimed “to safeguard the race-purity of the people of New Zealand by preventing the influx … of persons of alien race including Asiatic”.

The Immigration Restriction Act shut out immigrants who were not of British or Irish ancestry or could not fill out the application form in “any European language.”

These Acts may have been repealed long ago, with formal apologies for the Dawn Raids and poll tax issued, but the 2023 census’s racial categorisations seem to reveal on-the-ground attitudes that persist.

Just three years ago, I (Lucy) was spat at in a supermarket car park by a stranger, who yelled at me, “you lazy Chinese”.

I spent my teenage years obsessing over changing my surname to an English one.

Had I given in to society convincing me Chinese wasn’t Kiwi, I would have validated another immigrant culture (English) as dominant, which not only holds back non-white immigrant cultures from being Kiwi but also neglects the place of te ao Māori as the rightful default.

Even the concept of biculturalism privileges European culture in Aotearoa, placing it equal with the indigenous culture in a way not afforded to any other immigrant groups.

A more progressive and truly decolonial approach to national identity formation would be one that dismantles any prevailing Eurocentric bias.

Chinese and Pacific Islanders have been here since Europeans were still in the minority.

Not every migrant culture has, but our national identity is not an exercise in racist generational arithmetic, is it?

All New Zealanders, whether they have ancestry from Asia, Africa, Europe or any other corner of the world, deserve an ethnic title that is no more nor less belonging to this country than any other immigrant group.

We’d just like Aotearoa to see us the same as we see it – a place that is stronger when everyone is allowed to be part of us and contribute to who we are. “New Zealand European” doesn’t allow for that.