National Portrait: Parliament's green watchdog, Simon UptonCAMERON BURNELL/STUFF Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton grew up on a Waikato farm. Parliament's new green watchdog is the first former politician to hold the post, and a wildly controversial one he was, too. National leader Robert Muldoon, whose brutal interventionism helped provoke the revolution, used to call them Hansel and Gretel. Upton is certainly critical of his old National mates over climate change. Green startUpton went green at an early age after falling in love with ferns and geysers.

Source: Stuff February 23, 2018 15:56 UTC