Davis Kelvin: Carter Observatory Act Repeal Bill — Second Reading 
Davis Kelvin: Carter Observatory Act Repeal Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:11257] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 Labour supports the Carter Observatory Act Repeal Bill. The purpose of the bill is to disestablish the Carter Observatory as the national observatory. It repeals the Carter Observatory Act 1938 and dissolves the Carter Observatory board. It also vests the assets and liabilities of the observatory in the Wellington City Council. 
Since 2007 the Wellington City Council has effectively been managing the Carter Observatory. The council has agreed to take full responsibility for the Carter Observatory and the Crown agrees with that. The bill gives effect as I have said to that agreement by repealing the Carter Observatory Act 1938; dissolving the Carter Observatory board; providing for the transfer of assets including land of the Carter Observatory board to the Wellington City Council; vesting in the Crown the liabilities incurred by the Carter Observatory board prior to 20 December 2007; and vesting in the Wellington City Council the liabilities incurred by the Carter Observatory board on and after 20 December 2007. 
The Carter Observatory’s name commemorates Charles Rooking Carter who gifted his estate to the Royal Society of New Zealand to establish an astronomical observatory in Wellington. Parliament established the Carter Observatory in 1937 and the observatory opened its doors in 1941 becoming a base for astronomical research in New Zealand. Work began with solar investigations and when new staff joined during the 1970s it expanded to include variable stars galaxies and asteroids. The Carter Observatory became New Zealand’s national observatory in 1977. 
In 2005 the New Zealand Government commissioned Professor Mike Bessell to review the Carter Observatory and explore New Zealand’s requirements and opportunities in astronomy and space science research and education and Professor Bessell’s report kick-started the Carter Observatory’s transformation into a world-class visitor attraction and educational facility. In 2006 the Labour Government provided $2.2 million to provide more educational and tourist opportunities at the Carter Observatory and in 2008 further funds were provided in line with the tourism strategy at the time. 
Tourism and education are both portfolios on which I am spokesperson and it is great that the Carter Observatory is being added to the wealth of tourism opportunities within the Wellington city area. Of course education is close to my heart. When I was a teacher I took groups down to the observatory at One Tree Hill and kids really enjoy and get involved in the opportunities that observatories provide especially when they go there at night and observe the stars moon and so on. 
There are difficulties in having an observatory in a city in that observatories work best when they are not surrounded by street lights or lighting that affects the images they get. In 2005 I was lucky enough to travel to Arizona. As part of the trip over there I went up Mount Graham at the top of which there is an observatory at a height of 10000 feet. Despite the fact that this observatory was in the middle of the desert with just a few towns 20 or 30 miles away the lights from those small towns still distorted the images and the views from the telescopes. In particular the cities of Phoenix and Tucson which were a couple of hundred kilometres away still managed to distort the images as the light from those cities was visible on the images. So it is not good to have an observatory that is really serious about research and science smack-bang in the middle of a city especially a city like Wellington. With its inclement weather and cloudy days there would be a number of nights when the views would not be very good at all. 
The educational programme at the observatory includes some fantastic opportunities. Curriculum-linked teaching resources are sent to schools before visits and offer astronomy information lesson plans and activities and links for further research. Members of the Carter Observatory learning team help teachers tailor programmes to meet their groups’ learning objectives. There are free familiarisation visits for teachers. Students are able to explore interactive multimedia exhibitions which encompass four themes: space time and matter; stars solar systems and planets; life and the universe; and the astronomy of Oceania. There are opportunities to view and handle significant astronomical artefacts heritage telescopes and historic documentation shipped over here during World War II. When the viewing conditions are right students are able to use the Thomas Cooke Telescope to view the sun under controlled conditions. Optional hands-on workshops are led by the Carter Observatory learning team and there is a planetarium where the kids get to sit under the stars. 
When I was going to school some 25 or so years ago— 
Grant Robertson 
: 30? 35? 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: —some 10 to 15 years ago—the Matariki festival was almost unheard of and it is great that Matariki has become quite a big event in the Maori calendar. It is great that the Carter Observatory reinforces and emphasises that event. Between 14 June and 18 July the observatory will celebrate Matariki. The rising of Matariki heralds the start of the Maori calendar year. As in many other civilisations the changing shape of the moon was used to mark months and individual days in this period. Each day of the maramataka or Maori calendar had a name and associated shape. If the moon could not be seen for a number of these days it was easy to count off those days or catch up when the moon could be seen. As the lunar calendar does not match the solar calendar the dawn rising on Matariki heralded the changing of the year with the first new moon after the rising marking the start of the maramataka. It is great that the Carter Observatory is reinforcing in its educational programmes the whole Matariki concept and acknowledging Maori concepts and I congratulate it on that. 
As well as tourism and educational facilities there are also conference facilities at the Carter Observatory and here we can see it has moved right away from the whole research programme it once had. The observatory is no longer suitable for use as a research centre; it has appropriately been converted to support educational and tourism purposes. It is therefore only right and appropriate that the facility and the assets are vested and transferred to the ownership of the Wellington City Council. As I say the Labour Party supports this legislation. Thank you very much.