Not even the low-hanging fruit

Prime Minister John Key has signalled that he will have none of this pro-environmental palaver, at least not on his watch anyway.

In what was Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith's, FIRST proposed pro-environmental step since taking office some four plus months ago - to put a levy on plastic bags in supermarkets - the Prime Minister has stepped in to veto the initiative. While I do not agree with Smith's idea that the supermarkets keep the revenue coming from such a levy (the preferrable option in my opinion is to use the money for environmental projects), at least it shows that he was thinking in a way that indicates some consideration for the environment. Indeed New Zealand uses a reported one billion plastic bags per year, a figure that Key agrees is 'excessive'.

If this government cannot even agree on what is a clear example of 'low-hanging fruit', then the next two and a half years are going to be disastrous for New Zealand's environment and our input to the vitally important UN Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of this year.