Centre for New Zealand Studies going, going…?

new-zealand-labour-party

Mon Oct 05 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Centre for New Zealand Studies going, going…?

Monday, 5 October 2009, 3:13 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Hon Chris Carter
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson

5 October 2009 Media Statement
Centre for New Zealand Studies going, going…?

The Government must take concrete steps to save the Centre for New Zealand Studies at the University of London Birkbeck, Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson Chris Carter says.

“Since the centre opened in 2007 it has attracted more than 2000 visitors and has organised over 120 events focused on New Zealand. It has amassed one of the largest collections of New Zealand resource material ever assembled outside of New Zealand, and has attracted high-quality PhD students to its courses.

“Now the Centre appears to have been closed by the University; the doctoral students don’t know whether they’ll be able to submit their theses; the important collection is being broken up; and some of New Zealand’s greatest advocates in European academia are facing losing their jobs,” says Mr Carter.

“1,030 people have signed an online petition asking for the Centre for New Zealand Studies to be kept open, but the New Zealand Government, who should be applying maximum leverage, has ignored their voices. This is an appalling situation.

“Last year, in my role as Education Minister, I made a financial contribution to the Centre in recognition of the important role that it played in promoting New Zealand. Where is that money now and how can the National Government apparently let our investment disappear?

“I wrote to John Key about this issue in August, and he delegated it to his Foreign Minister Murray McCully who appears to have done nothing. Now is the time for the Prime Minister to get out of extended-holiday mode and save our Centre.”

ENDS

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