Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19878] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 I want to respond to the question that has just been asked by Lynne Pillay and I congratulate her on having an eye for detail and being able to identify the difference between honorary members and honorary fellows as covered in clause 12. I also want to respond to Jacinda Ardern’s questions about the process by which honorary fellows come to be honorary fellows. 
I will take the second point first. Yes there is a difference here but although the member has identified the difference—that honorary fellows are not entitled to vote—honorary members absolutely are entitled to vote and be involved. That is because—and this is the important distinction—an honorary member is already an ordinary member before he or she becomes an honorary member. So the distinction here in respect of voting as stated in section 17(2) of the principal Act on “any matters before the Academy Council”—soon to be renamed—or the overall council of the society is that the only people who are involved in that are members. That is the distinction. So honorary fellows are not members and I would suspect have not in most cases been members of the society. 
If for some reason an ordinary member of the society was made an honorary fellow of the society—perhaps a person who had been a scientist in New Zealand and had left and was now working overseas—I presume that he or she would be able to participate in the voting on the basis of their membership rather than on the basis on their honorary fellowship. I congratulate the member on noting that difference but that is the cause of it. Honorary fellows are in fact not members and therefore are not able to participate. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Who new in the humanities would be included who is not already included? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Well we do not know because we do not know who will be yet but there will be some. 
I think it is important to clarify that and note that that is the distinction in clause 12 “Honorary Fellows”. They do not have the right to vote but they are people who have a connection with New Zealand and that brings us to the earlier question. I think it will be useful for members if I run very briefly through the process for electing honorary fellows. It is similar to the process for electing fellows. Nominations are given to the fellowship selection panel and recommendations from there go to the fellowship selection committee. The important point is that consideration is given to each candidate’s sustained research excellence and to his or her association with New Zealand. So it is not just a random scientist from somewhere in the world. When consideration is being given to the question of honorary fellowship it is not only a question of sustained research excellence—which is the same threshold that normal Fellows of the Royal Society need to meet—but also his or her association with New Zealand. I think that is important because for the society to be the Royal Society of New Zealand it does mean that the people who are honorary fellows have some association with New Zealand. As I think I said in an earlier intervention it is highly likely that they have either worked or studied in New Zealand or are engaged in some form of research that actually involves a New Zealand scientist. I think that is a very important point. 
Nominations for honorary fellowship remain valid for 2 years so if someone is not accepted immediately there is a 2-year window in which the Royal Society could choose them and after that there is a 3-year stand-down period. So if a person is not successful in becoming an honorary fellow in 2 years they have to wait for 3 years before they can be nominated again and perhaps in that time they could improve their links with New Zealand or get a more sustained research record. If the fellowship selection committee recommends that a candidate be elected as an honorary fellow that nomination goes to the academy executive committee which meets following the fellowship selection committee and the names of the people who are elected to honorary fellowship are announced at the fellows’ AGM each year. 
Anyone who has looked at the website will see that there are not too many honorary fellows. It is kept as a fairly limited pool just as the overall fellowship of the Royal Society is. I hope that has answered some of the questions that colleagues have raised. It is certainly an important distinction that is being drawn between honorary membership and honorary fellowship as my colleague Lynne Pillay has raised. I think what we have been through this afternoon and this evening is a good look at the range of membership and the way in which the inclusion of the humanities has changed those categories of membership. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: They will. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: It certainly will change those categories of membership. With honorary fellows we will now see a pool of internationally respected humanities researchers—