Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:671;Page:17566] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 I move  
That the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. The Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill is a private bill promoted by the Royal Society of New Zealand which will amend the Royal Society of New Zealand Act. I am proud to bring it before the House as the local member for the electorate in which the Royal Society of New Zealand is housed. The Education and Science Committee has been considering the bill and reported back to the House on 11 March. It recommended that the bill proceed with several amendments. I particularly thank the members of the Education and Science Committee for their hard work in looking at the bill for understanding the submissions that came to the committee and for making the amendments they have made. 
The main purpose of this bill is to amend the Royal Society of New Zealand Act so as to incorporate humanities into the objects and functions of the society. This was based on a memorandum of understanding to incorporate the humanities into the society which was signed by the society and the Council for the Humanities in February 2010. The bill expands the objects of the society to include the advancement and promotion in New Zealand of the humanities in addition to science and technology. The functions of the society will also be expanded to include functions relating to the humanities such as fostering in the New Zealand community a culture that supports the humanities and encouraging promoting and recognising excellence in the humanities. The incorporation of the humanities into the objects and functions of the society will mean also that people involved in the humanities may be admitted as members of the society and that people who have achieved distinction in research or the advancement of the humanities can be elected as fellows of the society. The society will also be required to establish and administer a code of professional standards and ethics in the humanities as it currently does in relation to science and technology. 
The Education and Science Committee recommended a change to the definition of humanities in clause 5(2) of this bill by omitting specific mentions of English and American studies. Members of the committee may choose to share with the House some of the logic in relation to that change. As I understand it it is to do with duplication in that English is dealt with under languages and perhaps American studies is dealt with under cultural studies. Questions have been asked in the process of this bill about some other subject areas that are not mentioned under the definition of humanities. Although I retain an open mind as the member sponsoring this bill as to exactly how we should describe the humanities—and I am more than happy to talk to people as we move into the Committee stage about whether we have that definition right—it is important to note that in addition to traditional science and technology the social sciences are already part of the Royal Society’s work. I think social sciences will include a number of the disciplines people have been concerned about not being specifically mentioned in the list of humanities at the moment. It could perhaps include political science and that is one example. 
I am as I said more than happy as we move into the Committee stage to make sure we have a full consensus in the House about the way in which we describe the humanities in the bill. Most members of the House would acknowledge that when legislation has an exhaustive list of any particular thing under a definition what is not there becomes a concern to people. The committee has done its best to come up with a coherent list but we need to make sure we have consensus on that. We can talk about that as we go into the Committee stage if members of the Committee of the whole House would like to do that. 
In the submission process of the select committee there was a submission from the Royal Society’s Wellington branch and it is worth noting that the Royal Society’s Wellington branch expressed some concerns about bringing the humanities into the Royal Society. It is a good thing when bills are sent to select committees which from time to time the current Government has not done and this is an example of where even on a non-controversial bill there was some debate. It is important that we recognise the good faith of those people who make submissions and we can talk about the concerns over this bill now. The objections the Royal Society’s Wellington branch raised were essentially around its concern that by bringing the humanities into the objects and functions of the society there would be some dilution of the focus on science and technology. That is a concern that people who have been working in the framework of the Royal Society for many years may well have. There was concern from some branch members that the significance of science may reduce in the activities of the society. It is clear that the committee members have considered this and decided they are comfortable with where things have reached. Certainly members of the Royal Society itself feel that the process of making the decision was one that was taken seriously. The council of the Royal Society debated it thoroughly and over quite a long period—a year or more—worked out how to make sure their incorporation of the humanities still allowed for sciences to flourish. 
On a personal level I think the incorporation of the humanities is very important because if New Zealand really is going to grow its economy we need to bring together the innovation that comes from the humanities and social sciences and marry that up with hard-core sciences and technology. Sir Paul Callaghan who spoke here recently at a Speakers’ Science Forum and who is a fellow of the Royal Society spoke very much as he has in the past about the important issue of the merging together of the clever minds of New Zealanders—the people who brought us Weta Digital and so on; the designers; and the people who can conceptualise design. Bringing those people together with the hard scientists is the way we will get innovation in our country. When we look at the objects of the Royal Society as they currently stand I think that idea is understood. Although I can appreciate that some people involved in the Royal Society may have concerns about the dilution of science and technology I believe this bill will actually strengthen the Royal Society by bringing in humanities and by broadening out the objects and the functions of the society to take into account the humanities. It will actually start to bring together some of the synergies that have been mentioned. 
I also note because there was some concern in the Royal Society’s Wellington branch about whether there had been sufficient consultation on incorporating the humanities into the society that the council of the Royal Society discussed this matter as far back as March 2009. Incorporation was discussed at the fellows’ AGM in November 2009 then found its way through by late November 2009 to be formally adopted and by January 2010 to be announced. The memorandum of understanding between the Council for the Humanities and the Royal Society was signed on 9 February 2010. A process was gone through by which fellows and those involved in the Royal Society council were able to discuss this issue and I think the decision taken was certainly the right one. 
There is also a slight change being made by the select committee around the appointment of members to the academy council. The process of changing the academy council was one that again went through some significant discussion. It is important obviously when one changes the objects and functions of an organisation like the Royal Society that we are able to have the council operate in a way that goes along with those changes in the functions. But again in the interests of democracy it is worth noting that the fellows of the society had a vote on this and 97 of the fellows were in favour and just two against. 
Moana Mackey 
: What about the 1 percent? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: No it was 97 actual people and two against. It was not a percentage. The scientist sitting beside me is always thinking in percentage terms. Overwhelmingly the fellows of the society were comfortable with the decision to change the structure of the council. The Education and Science Committee has just slightly amended the wording that relates to the appointment of a person as a member of the society’s council by the society’s regional constituent organisation just so that makes sense. 
It gives me great pleasure to move the second reading of this bill. The bill will be an advance forward. Members on this side of the House are committed to New Zealand being an innovative country; a country that supports education science and technology; and a country that invests in education science and technology. We think that that is how we will provide opportunities for future generations of New Zealanders and not by cutting funding to science not by taking science advisers out of schools and not by ignoring the evidence and research that is important in policy making and elsewhere. We see this bill as a step forward an advance for the Royal Society and one that I hope all members of the House will be able to support.