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:19864] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 Clause 11 brings us to the question of honorary members yet another form of membership of the Royal Society. Before I go into that I will correct something that my very good colleague Moana Mackey said before because she undersold herself—and it is unlike Moana Mackey to undersell herself. She is a person of—[ 
Interruption 
]; hear me out—great talent and someone who should celebrate her achievements. She described herself as an ordinary member of the Royal Society of New Zealand but in fact a brief check of the website of the Royal Society will reveal that Moana Mackey is in fact what is described as a professional member of the Royal Society of New Zealand. That is where a person who joins the Royal Society has their qualifications and professional experience recognised and the Royal Society— 
Chris Hipkins 
: Where’s that in the Act? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: —I will come to that I say to Mr Hipkins—then undertakes a process. When they assess that a person’s qualifications and professional experience are sufficiently good they become a professional member and are entitled to have after their name the letters MRSNZ—Member of the Royal Society of New Zealand. So Moana Mackey is more than an ordinary member of the Royal Society and I think the House should celebrate the fact that she is a professional member. 
But clause 11 is not about either ordinary members or professional members; it is about honorary members of the Royal Society. I say to Ms Mackey that we have been celebrating her professional membership of the Royal Society. 
Moana Mackey 
: Oh am I a professional member? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Yes. It is a surprise to her that she is a professional member. It is something for the member to celebrate tonight. 
Moana Mackey 
: I have to go update my website. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: That is right. Section 16 of the Royal Society of New Zealand Act covers who honorary members are and section 16(1) tells us that “The Council may from time to time grant Honorary Membership of the Society to any Ordinary Member who in the opinion of the Council has rendered eminent service to science or technology or to the Society.” Perhaps significantly subsection (2) tells us that “Honorary Members are not required to pay any levies to the Society.” I think other members may wish to go into that a little more. But that is what describes an honorary member. In clause 11 we are making sure that people who have provided eminent service are not only those who provided that service to science and technology but also to the humanities. 
It has been useful to work through the debate tonight on the different types of membership of the society—from fellows through to companions and now on to honorary members—to recognise that the society has processes in place to enable special recognition of those who are eminent scientists through the fellows those who have contributed to the advancement and the knowledge of science companions and now those people who have chosen as Moana Mackey noted before as any of us could do to join the Royal Society. If those members who have joined the Royal Society are people who have made a contribution or have been shown to be eminent in some way then they are able to be described as an honorary member. I think this is an important additional class of membership within the Royal Society because there are many many members of the Royal Society and those who are professional members like Moana Mackey and have made their contribution can in time find themselves to be honorary members of the Royal Society. So clause 11 of the bill that is before us tonight— 
Hon Dr Wayne Mapp 
: They’ll be looking to make you one Grant. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Well I do wonder Dr Mapp after the contribution I have been making to the Royal Society over recent months whether it might consider honorary membership—I do not know. Far be it from me to put myself forward for that kind of position. Others may choose to but that is their choice. But it is obviously an important place within the membership structure of the Royal Society to have honorary members and to be able to recognise people within that. 
There are some other classes of membership of the Royal Society including professional members like Moana Mackey. There are also retired members people who are no longer working within the scientific area and obviously they have the ability to be recognised and there are student members. That I think is a very important part of the membership class of the Royal Society because it is a way of bringing people into the Royal Society community at an early stage. 
Hon Heather Roy 
: Is it compulsory? 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: Compulsory? No it is not compulsory I say to Heather Roy to be a member of the Royal Society. Just briefly I have to respond to Heather Roy on the nature of student membership of the Royal Society. No it is not compulsory and that is fine because neither is the environment in which the Royal Society operates. 
Hon Heather Roy 
: They don’t need the money. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: They do not need the money did the member say? Well no in fact the Royal Society is very keen for people to join and it is not just about the money as we established in earlier parts of the debate around the question of members not getting a dividend or a profit. Members join because they are interested in science and that is a very good thing. 
I just want to briefly add to my contribution and say that this is yet another example of the expansion of the membership to include the humanities in the very important category of honorary members and it is something that I would urge the Committee to support.