Horomia Parekura: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Horomia Parekura: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:672;Page:18843] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 I have much pride in rising in this House of democracy and debate. I will certainly put to rest the notions of the previous speaker Allan Peachey. I have just watched someone who has taught the ABC to pupils over generations in the classroom. 
The Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill is a serious bill as my learned friend from Wellington Central has pointed out. I wonder when I listen to the debate between those sciences that were supposed to be exact—only those sciences recognised through research and whatever else—and the other parts suggested as the humanities that have been put aside. I was the most uneducated Associate Minister of Education I think this Parliament has had because I was evicted from school at 16. But I learnt over 9 years as one of the longest-serving Associate Ministers of Education in this House that snobbery pervades in relation to unreal differentiations between the humanities and those supposed exact sciences. 
You see when Captain Cook came here he used cartography. He would put the line up take the angle and strike it. He used researched science and proof. Yet he did not know where he was going—he did not know where he was going. Generations before that my ancestors used their wills their hearts and the stars and they got there— 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: And back again. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: They came back again. I think there has been a fair bit of snobbery by people like the last speaker who have tried to be harbingers of the isolation of those sciences. I think this is a wonderful and great opportunity for merging and recognising things. 
When I went to school we learnt about Shakespeare. There would be talk about a pound of flesh or there would be talk about Puck coming down at midnight or some damn thing. I was always astounded as a Maori living in a Maori environment and wondered why the hell we were thrust into that long-breadth learning about somebody who lived in Italy wrote stanzas and whatever else. We had great stories of our own. I believe marginalisation in the sense of educational progress came out of that isolation. What has survived? What has survived? Italian songs and stanzas that are 4000 years old—the arts! 
We can go into the Louvre and look around at things. Gee it is bigger than the Tolaga Bay community hall. We can look at things and stand in front of the Mona Lisa. The eyes follow us and we think it is great stuff. But it is not science; it is the humanities. Yet all those mugs go over there and pay money to go and look at it. 
In 1867 the Royal Society was started—a long time ago. That is why with respect we need to give this debate time. In 1856 the Maori chiefs went to Pukawa and they decided they would mirror those great scientists. They would get together collectively and form things not too dissimilar to the King and everything would be put right. But what they missed and what the old professors—Mr Hodgson’s ancestors—kept in their hip pockets was this great thing about science. 
At the end of the day I commend the member in the chair Grant Robertson for his effort in putting forward this bill and in getting general agreement for it across the Committee. It is like the great statement about the person who is about to inflict on us a lot of doom and gloom in about 2 hours and 54 minutes of sitting time—that is Budget day. I am not too sure what size they have used but there are “nice-to-haves” like psychology English literature arts and Maori. Who were the fools in the past who believed that those subjects do not have a place in any society especially the Royal Society which was mirrored by our people? 
It is like wine tasting: there is a science of fermentation and there is an exactness about prolonging tasting over a period of time so one quits the taste of the wine. But then people get pissed if they drink too much of it. Or they get a bit wayward. I am sorry Mr Chair—they get a bit wayward if they drink too much. Which is the right science? The one that is researched and states that we should ferment the grapes plant them try to avoid botrytis and keep the sugar levels up or the one that makes us happy? Which is right? 
I say to Mr Peachey that there is a very very serious case for merging these great studies and sciences. We have to capture our young people’s mindsets in relation to how they should be part of the Royal Society. They should be more than inspired; they should actually understand. 
Imagine a young Maori sitting in Mr Brown’s biology class in Tolaga Bay. There are two things they like: the Bunsen burner because they can burn something and the subject of unicellular animals such as paramecium and amoeba. They are fascinated because this is unlearned stuff. It is outside the sciences. They are attracted because they learn that those organisms breed and that their sexuality is carried out through the central cells splitting. The cell is surrounded by cilia which means fine hairs. Then that person understands that there are two little creatures unicellular things flying around in the air somewhere. That person starts to sit down with their mates and wonder about how they might trap some. 
Hon Paula Bennett 
: Wouldn’t this be more interesting if you said it in Maori? 
Hon Simon Power 
: In te reo. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Well that is another point. The Maori language is not recognised. Shame on you— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Not shame on me. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Shame on the people who kicked it out. It is like being in Italy and their language being put under the mat. It is like being in Greece and their language being put under the mat. Why are these humanities not important? There is only one place where the Maori language is really important and it is here. Why? Because the Maoris are not going away. Captain Cook’s progeny and all those people who came from Australia such as my ancestors the Rutherfords have a lot to answer for at the end of the day. 
What we are doing here in fine community spirit is ensuring that these two great functions are merged and that neither is greater than the other. It is like the tax take at the moment. What is it about giving tax favours to the more well-off when the people at the bottom suffer? It is like not recognising the humanities. If we want to disconnect from the humanities let me tell the Scots to get rid of their bagpipes and take those skirts off or tell the Irish to stop drinking green beer. Yes that is right. It is like telling the English to stop going to big weddings—all of those things. Stop doing that sort of stuff. 
This has been a whole lot of nonsense. I am really really proud of my colleague for bringing this bill together for making history and for ensuring that simple people like me who were evicted from school at 16 will have a chance or my grandchildren will have a chance to learn and to become great scholars and will not have to worry whether they are in the humanities or the true sciences. 
If we are to say that everything has to be stood up and the impact and outcomes of years of research and information measured then I say stop feeling good stop believing we can do things and stop dreaming. What is that? Is it the humanities or the sciences? 
David Carter is the Minister of Agriculture. We have this great science that says that if we put so many tonnes of urea on the paddock the grass will grow. We have this science that says if we pour copper on cattle they will survive better and get heavier. But at the same time the cows piss in the paddock it leaches into the river and turns our rivers into dirty uninhabitable environments—and that is through science. Only people’s feeling that we must keep things green and clean will correct that issue because nobody puts effort into the science needed to correct it. So I am a strong supporter of the humanities. 
Jo Goodhew 
: Did the member get the wrong notes? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I am not worried unlike those people who have no culture who bastardise everybody else’s dreams and joys and who sit on the other side of the Chamber. 
Hon Simon Power 
: Steady steady. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: That member is skiving off. He is not a bad bloke though. Simon Power has been a great man. He has run the justice portfolio with an iron hand. He has used science he has measured everything and he has ensured that the countables are counted but he has used his heart. He has a heart this Simon Power. I am trying to get him in trouble with his leader. He has a good heart and that is the truth. That is why Paula Bennett is sitting next to him. She is trying to get from him the ways to feel about the heart.