Faafoi Kris: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Faafoi Kris: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19879] 
KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Taloha ni Mr Chair. I am acutely aware of the time tonight. In reference to an interjection from my colleague Chris Hipkins it is our understanding that  
CSI  
is on tonight. As the Royal Society of New Zealand has been predominantly dominated by scientists up until recently I am sure they have now switched from TV3 over to channel 93 because they are very interested in this debate. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Well  
CSI  
is not real science anyway. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: Yes well it is Hollywood meets science. I am sure that they are very interested none the less. It would be remiss of me not to tell them exactly where we are in the debate on the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill. It is my understanding that we are on clause 12 which covers honorary fellows. It amends section 17 of the Royal Society of New Zealand Act “by omitting ‘Academy Council’ in each place where it appears and substituting in each case ‘Academy Executive Committee’.” Subclause (2) amends section 17(1)(b) “by omitting ‘science or technology’ and substituting ‘science technology or the humanities’.” 
Now that we have got everyone up to date at home as to exactly where we are on the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill I will look at exactly what an honorary fellow is. An honorary fellow is someone who is not normally resident in New Zealand who has given eminent service to science technology or the humanities. 
I will diverge a little bit to congratulate the Royal Society of New Zealand. Many of us have gone to its website—and I assume the website has been engulfed recently by great interest especially on Wednesdays. Its website is already despite this legislation not having been passed yet referring to the humanities in how it gives out its honorary memberships. It states in relation to companions that a companion is an honour given to a person to recognise “sustained and outstanding leadership and contributions to the promotion encouragement and advancement of knowledge in science technology and the humanities in New Zealand.” So despite the fact that this bill has not passed thorough the House the Royal Society of New Zealand is already acknowledging that the humanities have come into its realm. 
I will take the opportunity to look at exactly what the humanities are because I think that is very important in terms of what will now happen with honorary fellowships—if members could give me one second. The humanities now include languages history religion philosophy law classics linguistics literature cultural studies media studies art history film and drama. Although that is great and I think it is very exciting for the Royal Society of New Zealand to be entering this new arena where it is not focused on just science and innovation I will concentrate on science and the role that the Royal Society of New Zealand has played in science in New Zealand. In particular I will make reference to the speech from Jacinda Ardern. She made reference to the New Zealander of the Year Sir Paul Callaghan. Sir Paul Callaghan is a full fellow I believe of— 
Jacinda Ardern 
: He is a full fellow. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: He is a full fellow. Thank you very much for confirming that. Sir Paul Callaghan—I can confirm for those at home—is a full Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. [ 
Interruption 
] No do not apologise; it has been clarified. As New Zealander of the Year Sir Paul made what I call a very inspirational presentation to our Labour congress about what he sees as the vision for New Zealand. In terms of that vision he thinks it is very important that we attract the smartest thinkers from outside of New Zealand into New Zealand. I guess that ties into the fellowships of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The honorary fellows are not usually resident in New Zealand and we need to attract a lot more of these clever smart top-end thinkers in the opinion of Sir Paul for our economy to grow in a sustainable way and so we are not relying on our primary production which has been the history of New Zealand to date. 
I will not just concentrate on Sir Paul. Let us take a look at one of those honorary fellows who is someone we could attract to New Zealand. I think he may have been mentioned by my colleague David Shearer earlier on in this debate; I am not sure if it was on this clause. That person is Martin Banwell who is at the Australian National University in Canberra. His link to New Zealand is that he is a graduate of Victoria University.