28 Feb 2012

PM warns not to rush Crafar farms approval

5:52 am on 28 February 2012

New Zealand's Prime Minister has warned the Overseas Investment Office not to rush a decision on any new application from a Chinese consortium wanting to buy the 16 Crafar farms.

John Key says the Government might seek a declaratory judgement to determine the meaning of the High Court judgement which overturned the office's original approval of the sale.

When the High Court ruled against the the sale of the North Island farms, the Overseas Investment Office said it would be a matter of days before it processed the application according to the judgement's new interpretation.

But Mr Key says he does not want any future decisions made by the ministers responsible to be subject to judicial review.

He says it is critically important that both the office and the ministers are very clear about the new interpretation of the law before making a decision.