Wall Louisa: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Wall Louisa: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19432] 
LOUISA WALL (Labour) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Chairperson. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou. Thank you very much for the opportunity to support my colleague Grant Robertson’s Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill. At this point in the debate we are focusing on clause 7 and the aspect of clause 7 that I will be talking about also relates to new section 5 inserted by clause 6 which states: “The object of the Society is the advancement and promotion in New Zealand of science technology and the humanities.” Of course all of those are underpinned by research or evidence-based action. 
I acknowledge the Hon Pete Hodgson who was the Minister of Research Science and Technology when I was Maori research manager at the Health Research Council. The research science and technology sector has been historically for me one that I have known quite a bit about. Obviously I know quite a bit about what the Hon Pete Hodgson was talking about in terms of conflict of interest but also in terms of scientists themselves being able to select and be involved in processes of allocating our public-good science research and technology money. 
What I really want to focus on is the definition of humanities that we have in this amendment bill. The definition includes languages—and I hope there is an opportunity to ensure that our indigenous languages are part of that definition—as well as history religion philosophy law classics linguistics literature cultural studies media studies art history film and drama. It was very interesting for me to look at the definition of humanities that I could find on the internet as one does. For me it is very much an academic discipline that is about studying the human condition using disciplines that are analytical critical and speculative. 
What does this bill mean for me in terms of humanities outputs in the future? I think it is very exciting and I just highlight the fact that the Royal Society having been around since 1867 has mirrored situations that many countries across the world and many leading academies such as those in Scotland and Canada have followed in ensuring that the humanities are integrated into the work of the Royal Society. It is very exciting that the breadth of the Royal Society now includes the humanities. 
Let us look at some of the historical work that the Royal Society has been involved with and I particularly highlight Dr Steve Thompson who was involved with the Royal Society when I was working at the Health Research Council. I will also look at some of the evidence that the society has come out with in respect of the humanities and decided to share with the New Zealand public. For example the Royal Society signed a petition in favour of genetic modification testing in 2008. It was really interesting to note that a report was released by the energy panel of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2006 recommending that the Government set aggressive but achievable targets for renewable transport fuels that it phase out the use of fossil fuels unless carbon emissions could be contained and that it put in place policies to ensure that fossil fuel - free targets are met by 2020. 
As we can see the Royal Society has historically engaged in the pursuit of the humanities but I guess that with this formal mandate there will now be a greater opportunity for our humanities leaders and academics to apply to the Royal Society. Also of note in 2006 was the comment by chief executive Steve Thompson that the Government’s research and development investment of about 0.52 percent of GDP was well below its goal of reaching the OECD average then 0.68 percent and rising. He said that scientists were chasing a moving target and the gap was getting bigger. It will be very interesting to monitor in the future what this definition will mean to the Royal Society. I commend my colleague Grant Robertson for prioritising this member’s bill.