Blinded by the light: Government in the Crafar Spotlight

John Armstrong calls it a rout of huge proportions and a full-blown political disaster. So it is. Wherever government goes now in the Crafar matter, the spotlight will be on them. And at a a time when the SOE sales issue is also blowing up, and you've got the McElrea issue running too, it adds up to a political minefield in the first month of the new parliament. The chorus that Mr Key's lot simply applied the 2005 rules does little to avert the current political impasse.

The decision is also interesting in many other contexts. It highlights the decision to sell the Crafar farms as a single lot, a decision with serious consequences. It shines alight on the the OIO and its activities and secrecy, with consequences that are still to be worked through. Above all, it focuses our attention on the sale of strategic land assets in a time in which food security is a major global issue. This is an issue that will not subside, and will be given greater profile by the Crafar case. Tangled webs!