The Green Party will support the values from te ao Māori as relevant ethical guidelines for the conduct of science and biotechnology in Aotearoa New Zealand. We will reform the structure and funding of science research. We strongly support a commitment to technology that enables us to work together more effectively and do more with less for longer.
Vision
Science and research are nurtured, empowering us to expand our horizons and create opportunities for ethical progress.
Values and Principles
Decisions relating to research, science, and technology (RS&T) must be consistent with the following values and principles:
- Honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Māori leadership and mātauranga Māori are vital and enrich the pursuit of knowledge in Aotearoa. Mātauranga Māori is valued and protected as living knowledge that belongs to its iwi and hapu.
- Ecological Wisdom: Ecosystems and scientific knowledge are interwoven, enhancing, and invigorating each other.
- Social Responsibility: The research and scientific community must be actively supported, transparent, and responsive to Aotearoa’s needs. It must provide direction on critical issues in a way that equitably uplifts the wellbeing of all.
- Appropriate Decision-Making: Transdisciplinary and evidence-based practices guide research, science, and technology, which support decision-making to be precautionary and informed.
- Non-Violence: Research and scientific advancements must be grounded in strong ethical principles that uphold wellbeing and minimise harm of participants and communities.
- Exploration: Science and research nurture learning and curiosity, not profit. They should critique society and our entrenched beliefs. They must provide our best evidence-based and reputable insights to important questions and problems.
- Openness: Communities benefit when they are able to responsibly access, use, and learn from research, science, and technology. The public should be able to freely access and understand research, and its results, in a way that respects their origin.
Strategic Priorities
The Green Party’s strategic goals include:
“All people will be empowered to shape the systems that affect them through community engagement enabled by good evidence, co-design, and adequate resourcing.”
Actions in this policy that will help achieve this include:
- Develop a funding strategy that treats investment into RST as long-term essential infrastructure and ensures that funding levels are reliable, tailored to the research context, and above the average OECD spend relative to GDP. (1.1.1)
- Improve equity, diversity, and participation in the research environment and build understanding of how stigmatisation, bias, and colonisation limit research outcomes. (2.2)
- Providing pathways for communities to participate in research, such as citizen science, incubation labs, community-led research, and representation in governance groups. (3.1.3)
- Empowering and appropriately resourcing kaupapa Māori research | rangahau, for publications, monitoring, and advice. (4.1.1)
- Supporting research conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand to be open access and open source, while enabling protections for privacy and data sovereignty. (5.2.1)
- Establishing an independent body to monitor and advise on technological trends, domestically and internationally, and enable appropriate regulation in a timely manner. (6.2.2)
Connected Policies
This policy is connected to many others, including priorities for research to support informed decision-making and technologies to support a transition to a sustainable economy. Tertiary Education institutions play a large role in research. Digital technologies are covered in a separate policy.
