I care enormously about the environment too Daytr. I have worked in the natural resources industry all my life and was taught from childhood by my grandfather to take care of nature. I have always endeavoured to do so and am proud of many of my achievements to change practices in my industry. I do not believe in trying to stop all industries in the name of the environment but believe in working with industries to continuously improve practices. Unlike the extreme "green brigade" that simply talk the talk, I walk the walk.
I belong to the BlueGreens where many common sense policies are developed and suggest you join us..
Key gets attacked from his left but no less from his right, even within his own party. That indicates clearly how centrist he and his Government have been and the polls prove it.
If he was as "hard right" as many on here claim he is, he would have taken the knife to some of the more expensive legacy projects and bribes introduced by Helen Clark and Michael Cullen, to reduce costs/debt.
Start with the Working For Families which is simply nuts.
Interest free student loans being one of the biggest rorts (free money for "the rich") and the most blatant election bribing in recent memory. Here an interesting recent article about student costs and the stupidity of the loan scheme
http://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/79...p-degree-which
I will be watching with interest, the Finnish experiment (a small trial for starters) to eliminate the welfare system completely and pay everyone about 1000 EURO per month.