Burns Brendon: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Burns Brendon: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19838] 
BRENDON BURNS (Labour—Christchurch Central) 
: 
 I am particularly pleased to take a call on clause 8 of the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill as it relates to that important issue that members of the Royal Society shall not take part for dividend or profit. The reason I say this is that last night I was one of a number of members of the House who were privileged to attend a function to recognise the firefighters of Canterbury and the West Coast who came to our city of Christchurch on 22 February and ensuing days. The rewards they were given were nil in terms of profit or dividend. They came simply because of their humanity I suppose. Many of them were volunteers. Certainly some professional firefighters were amongst the ranks of those who were present last night and there were perhaps 200 or 300 people at the former Wigram airbase museum for the awards ceremony. The Minister Nathan Guy was in charge of the ceremony and a number of other members were there. It really brought home to me the importance that we should continue to attach to people who serve not for profit dividend or personal gain but for something bigger than that and I think we are doing that very much so in clause 8. 
I want to acknowledge in this Chamber at the first opportunity and thank those firefighters for their valiant service to my community particularly in the central business district at the heart of my electorate. There is no amount of reward there is no amount of dividend and there is no amount of profit that we could provide to them that would say thank you enough for what they did in the hours days and weeks that followed our nation’s national disaster of unprecedented consequence. 
So I am pleased to see that the Royal Society under this bill is affirming the tradition that when it operates it is not doing so on the basis of profit or dividend. That is important because the Royal Society has a noble tradition; one that has been centred on the sciences. This bill under the adept stewardship of my colleague Grant Robertson MP for Wellington Central is bringing through amendments that will add to the dimensions of the Royal Society those who come from a humanities background. I guess if those firefighters could be categorised they are not intellectuals they are not scientists and they are not people with professional degrees in most instances. I am sure that occasionally in their ranks there might be somebody with an advanced university degree who serves simply because they love the contribution they can make through something like the New Zealand Fire Service. 
Simon Bridges 
: That is very stereotypical. 
BRENDON BURNS 
: If the member wants to interject on that point he is most welcome. I am sure the people of Tauranga would like to know that he does not agree that our firefighters deserve to be recognised in this Chamber alongside people from the Royal Society. There is a parallel there between people who serve not for profit not for dividend but for public service to the people of this country. I think that does deserve to be recognised. I think our society tends to put too much focus on the cost of things rather than on the value of things. 
Clause 8 really enshrines the fact that there is something beyond dollar-sign returns; it is an issue of public service. I think the Royal Society embodies that beautifully as do the firefighters of this nation. If we have only a short-term focus based upon profit then I think we will see a continued falling away of the way our society holds together and operates. If we look at it in a business setting a company that has a focus only on short-term profit will not be investing in research and development. That is the sort of research and development that members of the Royal Society often help drive because they are not there for the short term; they are there for the long-term haul. They can often give their whole lives to the particular study of one small unique subsection of the sciences—and soon the humanities. But that still makes a huge contribution because sometimes those tiny little areas of research can lead to enormous quantum leaps for us as a society. 
That is why enshrining in clause 8 the fact that the Royal Society is not centred upon profit or dividends to its members will encourage them to follow their natural creed which is that they are there for public service they are there to contribute to society and they are there as members of the Royal Society because they want to do their utmost and best for the communities in which they live for the professions in which they serve and for the disciplines that they represent. I think that is important to be upheld by this clause.