KEY POINTS:
The independent Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Morgan Williams, has called for political consensus among parties on climate change, making his call before stepping down in two weeks.
His call follows the breakdown last week of bipartisan talks between Labour and National before they had even begun.
National pulled the plug on talks with David Parker, the Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues, saying Labour breached confidentiality in the last bipartisan meeting it had with National, on monetary policy.
"At some stage to make progress you've actually got to put the bulk of the politics to one side," Dr Williams said.
The issues were "so darned important".
New Zealanders prided themselves on being innovative and entrepreneurial "but we do really struggle sometimes to deal with the big, hard, gnarly problems, like for example getting consensus on superannuation."
Dr Williams' call was welcomed last night by National environment spokesman Nick Smith.
