The New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) has completed its submission to the Royal Society Te Apārangi (RSTA) on the Society's proposed governance restructuring. 

Royal Society Te Apārangi Governance Consultation Submission (pdf)

NZAS firmly opposes the proposed change and believes that if carried out, it would greatly diminish the standing and effectiveness of the RSTA in its important duties.

Co-President Troy Baisden says, "The restructuring would drop the size of Council by half, effectively ending the standing of the RSTA as a representative body.

"The proposed changes undermine the intent of the legislation establishing RSTA with electoral colleges for constituencies deserving representation at the level of governance. Positions on the newly created advisory board would be a demotion as well with a frustrating and convoluted path to any information or influence."

"Māori, early career researchers, member-based organisation, and regional branches would all be effectively demoted. This would undermine over a decade of great progress and improvement at RSTA."

"The most deeply concerning aspect has been the inability of the RSTA to see that the changes, as well as the consultation itself, violate the accepted conventions of Te Tiriti The Treaty of Waitangi. These responsibilities are embedded in the constitutional framework within which the Act establishing the RSTA sits."  

An open letter from Māori academics explained concerns and called on RSTA to pause the process. https://www.maramatanga.ac.nz/news-events/open-letter-president-royal-society

Submissions close today 12 November but the RSTA's governing council plans to consider the changes on 5 December.

For those wanting to make a fast submission, we are trialing a starter tool to help (link).

[Note - we've had trouble with website permissions for PDF files recently so here is an alternate link to our submission - via google docs]