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Job title: Chief Executive

For: Ministry for the Environment.

In an age when green issues are so high-profile, the job of chief executive of the Ministry for the Environment comes with a very hot seat.

But Australian Barry Carbon has no intention of being the "expert from outside" - he'll be asking New Zealanders about the challenges of keeping their country beautiful.

Carbon, who has a masters degree in science and agriculture, says New Zealanders' concern for, and stake in, their surroundings is what makes the position so "exciting".

"The job is a wonderful chance to ... help to keep things good, or even to make things better. The job is a great attraction. New Zealand is a great attraction."

He has already had some contact with the New Zealand environmental agenda, having made extended visits here in the past to look at protection.

But he won't be issuing a scorecard on the state of our clean and green image just yet - "ask me in six months".

Carbon, whose last job was director-general of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, says he "fell into" his career from forestry, water and agricultural research. "The environmental field has changed from being only about pollution control, because now everyone is interested and informed about the environment. A lot of modern environmental protection is about working with other people."