O'Connor Damien: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
O'Connor Damien: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19875] 
Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR (Labour) 
: 
 I have been on duty in the Committee stage and I have been swept up in the spirit of unity. I have to make a speech on the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill. I acknowledge the member in the chair Grant Robertson; I think this wonderful initiative is on his part. I have to acknowledge the Government because I believe it will support this legislation and I think that is great. 
We on this side of the Chamber understand the importance of research and development and the celebration of success to the point where we are going to commit a huge amount of funding for research and development. I am sure that the members and honorary Fellows of the Royal Society will probably appreciate that more than the passage of this legislation. The one thing these people have been battered around by over the many many years that they have committed their lives to science is the uncertainty over funding. So we will commit not just to this legislation and supporting the member but also to funding to support their work. 
I have a couple of questions. One is about the Government having supported and passed much legislation in the House most of which was bad. But this is a good bill and the Government is supporting it. I wondered why. I went through the bill and effectively it includes the humanities. I guess the average New Zealander out there would be asking what the humanities are. If we go to the definition in the bill we see it includes languages history religion philosophy law classics linguistics literature cultural studies media studies and art history. If the Government wanted to summarise those things despite its efforts over the last 2½ years do members know what it would probably call them? It would call them “nice-to-haves”. That is probably what the Government would call them: “nice-to-haves”. We saw that view when the Government chopped adult and community education and chopped funding for tertiary education courses in this area called the humanities. 
The question I have—and I know the member in the chair will struggle to answer it so I will not ask him in particular but perhaps a call can be taken by a Government member—is how the Government can rightfully support the inclusion and recognition of humanities alongside mainstream science yet when it comes to training and encouraging people from the grassroots into courses that are by this definition called humanities the Government says no they are “nice-to-haves”—they are no good. Well this legislation if nothing else acknowledges those areas deemed to be the humanities as being just as important and right alongside the other traditional areas of science. That is good and hopefully this might allow the Government to extend its vision through its other economic policies. 
The second question I have is one of honorary fellows. The definition was that generally those are people outside of New Zealand or people who have made a significant impact on New Zealand in many ways. Someone sprang to mind and I wondered if he has been made an honorary fellow. It is Alan Greenspan the former US Chairman of the Federal Reserve who probably had more impact on New Zealand than anyone. The member in the chair shakes his head. Thank God Alan Greenspan has not been made one—that is right. 
But the question from here on in is whether with increasing levels of foreign investment and ownership—because that is what the Government wants—people connected to the new foreign owners or people who may in fact be the new owners will be entitled to honorary fellowship. I hope not. I hope that the legislation does not open the door for that. The reality is that under the current Government’s policies of increasing levels of foreign investment control and influence one might conclude that an honorary fellowship might be something that we do not support.