Prime Minister Agrees To Talk To Actress Over Environment Issues

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has agreed to meet film actress Keisha Castle-Hughes after dismissing her environmental calls for action last week.

The Whale Rider star earlier signed up as part of Greenpeace's new Sign On campaign, along with other Kiwi stars including Xena Warrior Princess Lucy Lawless and Flight of the Conchords' Rhys Darby. The campaign is calling for support of a 40 percent emission reduction target by 2020 at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December. The young actress then went on to witness the effects of climate change in the Pacific, saying she “saw the real and devastating impacts of a changing climate: coral bleaching, homes battered by cyclones, erosion and food crops affected by rising sea levels… The locals were all extremely welcoming and happy to share their stories of how their daily lives have been impacted. It was a real eye-opener.”

Last week, Prime Minister John Key told 500 people at a business gathering in Brisbane: “My advice to Keisha is this: stick to acting.”

Yesterday, in a political “about face”, Key announced New Zealand would aim to reduce emissions by between 10 percent and 20 percent on 1990 levels by 2020, and agreed to give Castle-Hughes a ring and “have a cuppa with her” over the issues.

“I am happy to give her some of the reading I have been given,” he said. “Wait till she reads the Treasury document, she might think I have been a bit extravagant at minus 10 [percent].”