A Greenpeace polar bear tries to get into the National Party's Central North Island Regional Conference in Hamilton. Greenpeace says climate change is the elephant in the room or, in this case, the polar bear in the meeting. The bear is a warning that climate change affects us all and that urgent action is needed. Since 2008 the John Key government has ignored the issue of climate change and last week's budget shows the blinkers are still firmly in place. The government is backing mining and drilling at the expense of New Zealand's, home-grown innovative clean energy industry. Supporting a cleaner, smarter future could provide tens of thousands of jobs, and give our economy a multi-billion dollar boost while cutting the emissions that are causing the polar bear’s Arctic home to melt.