Science Media Centre

The Science Media Centre put questions on key science-related issues to the political parties ahead of the General Election scheduled to be held on September 23. This is the fourth time the SMC has canvassed political parties on their science-related policies; you can access previous election Q&As on our website – 2008, 2011, 2014. Click […]

The Science Media Centre put questions on key science-related issues to the political parties ahead of the General Election scheduled to be held on November 26.  Please click on the links below to find the answers from responding political parties (or download as a PDF): Science priorities  |  Crown Research Institutes  |  Science and education  […]

There has been a great deal of debate over New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in recent months, with the controversy hotting up particularly over the last few days. Federated Farmers and the ACT party are in strenuous opposition to the Scheme, which they say will cost farmers (and New Zealanders as a whole) too […]

Discover your inner Neanderthal Scientists now have a “rough draft” for the genetic make-up of Neanderthals after sequencing 60 per cent of the Neanderthal genome. One of the first discoveries of the research, published in Science today: 1 – 4 per cent of the DNA in the genomes of people from Eurasia and the southwestern […]

Niwa has responded to ACT Party leader Rodney Hide’s claim that it had misled New Zealand’s government regarding climate change. The CRI has stood by the integrity of its scientists and the climate science it carries out, which show that global warming is occurring. An excerpt: (read in full here) “[Niwa chief climate scientist] Dr […]

An opinion piece by Rod Oram of the Sunday Star Times on New Zealand’s tenuous credibility regarding climate change, and the issue having become ‘the litmus test of National’s political skills’. An excerpt: (read in full here) “This is the final showdown between the enlightened forces for positive change and the dark forces of climate […]

New Zealand Herald columnist Brian Rudman on ACT leader and minister outside cabinet Rodney Hide’s “fruitcake views on global warming”. Column in full here. “[Key] must know there’s more chance of finding an internationally respected flat-earther, or apostle of intelligent design, or even a Holocaust denier than there is of finding a peer-reviewed case against […]