Kaye Nikki: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Kaye Nikki: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
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NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak on the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill. This is a very important piece of legislation to me on a number of levels. Firstly I am proud to be standing here as the chair of the Education and Science Committee and I want to acknowledge the former chair of the Education and Science Committee the late Allan Peachey—an incredible New Zealander who had a commitment not just to science but also to education. I just want to acknowledge him this evening.  
The other person I want to acknowledge is the new Minister of Science and Innovation the Hon Steven Joyce. I think it is very significant—and it has been mentioned by members earlier in other speeches—that he has the portfolios not only of science and innovation but also of tertiary education and skills. The reason that is relevant to this legislation is that if we want to show how much we value the Royal Society of New Zealand and the work of the society then we must approach it from a number of different angles. It cannot be about just one organisation; and I am going to address some of those issues later on in my speech.  
But at the outset I want to touch on that issue of value. On this side of the House we have been very clear that we value science not just through the way that we approach tertiary education and not just through the huge investment that we have been making in the area of science but also in the way we value it in this Parliament.  
There has been mention this evening of what the passage of this bill has been. I know that there are probably a number of people around New Zealand at the moment celebrating that tonight is the night that this piece of legislation goes through because they have been waiting years for this legislation. These people who are associated with the Royal Society of New Zealand were subject to the filibustering of the Labour Party. We know and we have heard in this House that the Royal Society has been waiting a very long time for this piece of legislation and it is so important.  
As one of the few members of this House who has a science degree—I have a Bachelor of Science in genetics—and also a law degree I say that what this bill is about is recognising not just the role that the Royal Society plays in terms of science but also the importance of the humanities. As someone who has both a Bachelor of Science in genetics and a law degree I consider myself adequately balanced in both the sciences and the humanities. And so it is a very important piece of legislation.  
I think we just want to make that point: if you value science then you probably should not be holding up a bill that is so important. There are so many people from the Royal Society who are respected but they have had to wait years and I know they will be sitting around New Zealand celebrating at this point in time as we hopefully pass this bill through the House. Anyway I just wanted to touch on some wider issues in terms of science investment.  
We have also shown how much we value science by the Prime Minister’s appointment of Sir Peter Gluckman. I am very fortunate to have had a little bit to do with him in the last couple of months. He is I believe one of the most trusted New Zealanders and I think that shows the value that New Zealanders are placing on science.  
Also I was fortunate to be able to attend the Prime Minister’s Science Prize ceremony where there was an outstanding New Zealander Bailey Lovett who won I think the Prime Minister’s Future Scientist Prize. I want to acknowledge her this evening. But what it shows you—and it comes back to the points I made at the beginning of my speech on this bill—is that it cannot be about just a piece of legislation going through the House and one organisation. Although it is doing great work we must also invest in our young people and I think the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes are an outstanding example of how we are investing in some of our young people. But also it is about tertiary education reform. Obviously the Minister is doing a lot in that area but we have also put significant money in.  
I look forward to being involved in projects like the Wynyard Quarter innovation precinct and projects like the advanced technology institute. We have announced that that is a significant amount of money but also that there will be centres both within Auckland and Canterbury and I look forward to those discussions about where that science infrastructure exists within New Zealand. As I said before you can have national organisations like the Royal Society of New Zealand but you must also have good science infrastructure. It is not just the investment in people whether it is through the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes but it is also that investment in good science infrastructure.  
The other point that I would like to make this evening is just to pay tribute to some of those outstanding New Zealanders who have come before us in this House but also who have come and made a significant contribution. I know lots of people often mention Ernest Rutherford but he did win the Nobel Prize I believe for chemistry in 1908. It is important to look back when you have an organisation that has been around for a significant period of time like the Royal Society of New Zealand and occasionally reflect on those outstanding New Zealanders who have made a contribution. They have made a contribution not just in New Zealand—which is going to lead me on to my next very important topic—but they have made a contribution internationally. And that is what I want to touch briefly on.  
It is a freaky coincidence but we had GNS Science in front of our select committee today on the contribution that New Zealand makes to science internationally. That is where I think the Royal Society of New Zealand has a very good reputation internationally. GNS Science was in front of our select committee today and unfortunately we are all aware in this House—members are very aware—of the situation in Canterbury. There is a huge amount of science that is going into some of the issues in terms of seismology in Canterbury. GNS Science in itself has got an extra $3 million around natural hazards research.  
There are a lot of things that are happening in the world particularly with many more international disasters—whether they are tsunamis or earthquakes—and there are some quite incredible areas whereby we need to be investing and this Government is investing. We saw that through that extra $3 million that has gone into an organisation like GNS Science. But just to wrap up in terms of our science investment we acknowledge this evening that this side of the House does value science. We value science through how we invest money in infrastructure and we announced a significant amount of that in the Budget.  
We also value science through how we invest in our young people how we value science through our tertiary education system and our secondary schools and how we value and uphold those science leaders within our community—those who have come before us like Sir Ernest Rutherford and those who exist today like Sir Peter Gluckman.  
That leads me to some of the provisions within this bill. As members have already mentioned one of the key areas and the key amendments in this bill is around that recognition of the humanities. One thing that frustrates me is that sometimes members think that certain sides of the House care only about maybe economic reform or science particularly. But actually what is great about the amendments that are going through here and what is great about the Royal Society’s shift to recognise humanities is that it shows how well they are balanced. But I think it is also part of a wider global movement which is understanding that sometimes the solutions to some of these problems are complex and involve not just looking at issues from a science perspective but also understanding issues from a humanities perspective and some of the social consequences. So that is what these amendments were about in terms of the committee.  
I think it is also important to just take you through a little bit of the history in terms of this decision by the Royal Society to extend its academy to include researchers from the humanities. There was a memorandum of understanding signed by the society and Te Whainga Aronui the Council for the Humanities in 2010. We also know that this approach is not happening just in New Zealand; it is also happening in other jurisdictions like Scotland and Canada. So I think that is very important because as I said before we know that this is a wider movement in terms of the way that we address domestic and global issues that we face both in New Zealand and throughout the world.  
So in conclusion it has been an absolute delight to speak on this bill. On this side of the House we value science both in terms of our science infrastructure— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. Her time has expired.