Further to the ongoing issue of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's flawed governance consultation, a group of prominent Māori academics has issued an open letter calling on them to pause the consultation and saying that failure to adequately provide for Māori participation in decision-making could make an independent Māori academy a path forward.

In our view, this illustrates exactly how deep the problems are with the current proposed governance structure. The Royal Society has played an incredibly important role in the research and science system for Aotearoa New Zealand and still has the opportunity to show its commitment to a bicultural, Tiriti-led future. We urge them to listen to this open letter.