Key to call Keisha for cuppa

Photo / Norrie Montgomery

Prime Minister John Key says he is going to call actor Keisha Castle-Hughes so they can have a chat about climate change over a cup of tea.

She is an ambassador for a Greenpeace climate change campaign urging the Government to sign up to 40 per cent emissions reductions.

Last week Mr Key was dismissive of her position,

"My advice to Keisha is this: stick to acting," he told a business gathering of 500 people in Brisbane.

Since then she has offered to meet Mr Key to discuss her concerns, saying she knew a lot more about the issue than he gave her credit for.

Yesterday Mr Key announced New Zealand would aim to reduce emissions by between 10 per cent and 20 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020.

Asked if he would meet with the star of the movie Whale Rider, he said he had not called her, "but I am happy to have a cuppa with her".

When pressed about whether he would instigate the meeting, Mr Key said: "Yeah alright I will give her a ring."

But if the young actor was looking forward to an entertaining get together, she was likely to be disappointed.

"I am happy to give her some of the reading I have been given ... wait till she reads the Treasury document she might think I have been a bit extravagant at minus 10 [per cent]," Mr Key said.

- NZPA