In the lead-up to the election, the New Zealand Association of Scientists and the Public Service Association once again collaborated with the PSA to bring you a political discussion on Government as the funder of science and employer of scientists.

The event has concluded and here's the video. We thank the participants for the quality of the debate. (We apologise for the recorded audio quality in some parts - but at are pleased this was not a political 'echo chamber' event.)

We invited a panel of science spokespeople from the major New Zealand political parties to join us for this pre-election discussion. 

When: Noon until 1 pm, Tuesday 5th September 2023

Where: GBLT1 Government Buildings Victoria University of Wellington

From left to right in the video we had: 

• Dr Ben Wylie-Van Eerd representing The Opportunities Party
• The Labour Party's Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall, the current Minister of Research, Science and Innovation. 
• Taylor Arneil from NZ First
• Dr Frances Hughes will represent National

We were also expecting Teanau Tuiono from the Green Party.

This event was similar to our 2020 Panel (video available) which moved online due to Covid-19 Alert levels.

One feature of the debate were the slido results from the audience.

Here was the 'what are your worries' word cloud.

An interesting mismatch was the lack of plans to address climate change research gaps, mentioned on the word cloud, while panelists addressed biotech regulation and health issues, which did not rate high on audience concerns.

Was the audience satisfied with the answers? 

The audience submitted 48 questions. Here were the top upvoted questions.