Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19855] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 Clause 10 brings us to another category of members of the Royal Society and this time we move to the category of companions. This clause makes a reasonably substantial change to the current Act so it is worth reflecting on that change in calls to come. 
The class of membership called companions was introduced to the Royal Society of New Zealand Act only in 1997 which is the last time this House updated the Act in order to include social sciences in the ambit of the Royal Society. Companions are defined in the Act at the moment as “any person who in the opinion of the Council has achieved a high level of eminence in the promotion or encouragement of science or technology.” That is how the Act currently reads. So it is quite a different matter; it is a question of people whose responsibility is around the promotion and advancement of science and technology in New Zealand. As the Royal Society itself says being a companion implies some level of responsibility and the people in question have responsibilities to promote and advance the society. Companions are expected where they are able to contribute to activities within the society and the wider community that foster a culture that is supportive of science and technology promotes and advances science and technology and enhances the awareness knowledge and understanding of science and technology in the New Zealand education system and in society generally. So companions are people whose responsibilities involve promoting science. They are not necessarily scientists themselves. 
Clause 10 alters quite significantly the way in which the current section in the Act section 12(1) reads. It does that by including the humanities as has been done in other clauses but also by rewording it to make it a little clearer as to what is being sought when somebody is elected as a Companion of the Royal Society. So to give people some examples of exactly what we mean by people who are involved in the promotion of science I note that one such person who is a Companion of the Royal Society is Helen Anderson. Helen Anderson has recently finished as the chief executive of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. I had the privilege of working with Helen Anderson when she was a science adviser in the office of the Hon Pete Hodgson when he was the Minister of Research Science and Technology. Helen Anderson is a person who does in fact have a scientific background but the main part of her working life has been the promotion and advancement of science in her many roles in the Ministry of Research Science and Technology and most latterly in the role of chief executive of the new Ministry of Science and Innovation. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: When the Committee rose we were discussing clause 10 which is about what happens with companions of the Royal Society a class of membership of the Royal Society devoted to people who have achieved eminence in the promotion or encouragement of science and technology. With the change being made in clause 10 this will include people both in the science and technology area and also in the humanities. As we rose I was giving some examples to the Committee of the kinds of people who are companions of the Royal Society to give the Committee an idea of the roles these people have played. This is different from pure scientists; these are people who have promoted and advanced science particularly in education. We were discussing Helen Anderson the recently finished chief executive of the Ministry of Science and Innovation; Margaret Austin a former member of Parliament— 
Chester Borrows 
: She was a good old girl. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Chester Borrows is right; she was a very nice person—that is what I am sure Mr Borrows just said. Margaret Austin has had a role in education and science and she has been on the council of Lincoln University for a significant amount of time. Bob Brockie is a Companion of the Royal Society. Residents of Wellington will be very familiar with him from his writing in the  
Dominion Post  
on a regular basis on the subject of science and ethics. There are a number of people: Len Cook the former Government Statistician Jean Fleming from the Centre for Science Communication at Otago University and also—I think I am right—a member of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification as well. 
The people who play a role in educating the public about science are the ones considered for the role of Companion of the Royal Society. I will name just one more person now. If people are interested I am happy to talk further about other companions of the Royal Society. One person who has been made a Companion of the Royal Society is Kim Hill the broadcaster. That is as a result of the work she has done in the area of science. A lot of that began with the conversations she had with Sir Paul Callaghan on her radio show. Those conversations were the way that a lot of New Zealanders became familiar with science and scientific concepts in a way that they could understand. Kim Hill has done a lot of work with the Royal Society over recent years in helping to promote science so she is a Companion of the Royal Society. 
Under clause 10 section 12 of the Act which currently deals with companions is being changed reasonably significantly. The main point is that section 12(1) states: “The Council may from time to time elect as a Companion any person who in the opinion of the Council has achieved a high level of eminence in the promotion or encouragement of science and technology.” That is now being replaced and changed for two reasons. The first of those is to include the humanities which is obviously the main purpose of the bill before us. The new section 12(1) will read: “The Council”—and the council being referred to is obviously the council of the Royal Society the governing body of the Royal Society—“may from time to time elect as a Companion any person who in the opinion of the Council has—(a) shown outstanding leadership in science technology or the humanities; or (b) made eminent or sustained contributions to the promotion and advancement in New Zealand of science technology or the humanities.” 
So that clarifies what it is to be a Companion of the Royal Society and that is to have shown leadership—and we have the example of Helen Anderson who has shown a great deal of leadership in the science sector—or to have made sustained contributions to the promotion and advancement of science technology or the humanities and I guess Kim Hill would fall into the latter category. Clause 10 makes a major change to the wording but it actually clarifies the kinds of people who will become companions of the Royal Society. It is a status of membership that I think is important to the way in which science and scientists interact with the community. 
In previous clauses we have been debating fellows. They are obviously Fellows of the Royal Society as Kelvin Davis said not to be confused with fellas which was an important distinction for Mr Quinn. Fellows of the Royal Society are the most eminent scientists social scientists and practitioners in the humanities now. Companions of the Royal Society are people who are similarly eminent but are working in the promotion and advancement of science. So this was a very important change made in the 1997 version of this Act. That was when companions were created within the Act so it was a reasonably recent change. The kinds of people who are companions is reflective of the important role that science has in our community in education and in the wider debate we have about issues like ethics and how science can advance not only the economic growth of New Zealand but also the social and environmental situation we find ourselves in. 
I have taken a bit of time over this but I think it is important to outline the way that companions are now to be recognised. Just so members know there are some other references to companions in the Act. There is an amended section 12(1) inserted by clause 10. It is also noted in section 12(2) that “A Companion is entitled to use in connection with his or her name either—(a) the letters ‘CRSNZ’ which stand for Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand; or (b) such other letters or title as is decided from time to time by the Council.” So companion is sufficiently important to be able to be used as letters after a name. 
I think whenever people involved in the sciences and now the humanities see FRSNZ after a name they know that that means a Fellow of the Royal Society and a person of esteem in the science community. We now have an addition to that—the ability to say that a companion is somebody who has contributed to assisting people’s understanding of science in our community. I think that is excellent. Clause 10 clarifies who those people will be. That is something that all of us should be very pleased to support tonight.