Campaign day 11: First Paintergate, now Corngate

By JOHN ARMSTRONG

Whatever the facts of the Great GM Sweetcorn Scandal, the damage has been done. Labour's campaign has taken a spectacular hit.

That could be judged from the Prime Minister's reaction to the allegations that she and her ministers covered up the planting of genetically modified sweetcorn seed during the summer of 2000.

During an acrimonious interview with TV3's John Campbell, a livid Helen Clark threatened to pull out of the channel's next leaders' debate because she had been "set up" by questioning on the corn crops. If the interview screened, no debate. The interview screened.

This extraordinary ultimatum followed her walkout from an Australian television interview when repeatedly asked about the "Paintergate" police inquiry.

Not a good week for Labour. The pressure seems to be telling.

Caught completely offguard, the party took six hours to respond to Nicky Hager's extensively documented claims about GM corn.

In the vacuum, the allegations ran unimpeded across the airwaves, making hardening opinions that much harder to shift and making it look as if the Government reallydid have something to hide.

In fact, the possibility that some imported seed was contaminated was admitted by Environment Minister Marian Hobbs back in December 2000.

But that was amid the distractions of the run-up to Christmas - not in the heat of an election campaign in which GM is the major issue. The possibility that GM crops have been grown here will be news to most people. And a shock.

As a result, the Cabinet's pragmatic refusal to order the offending plants to be pulled out, has made something of a mockery of the Prime Minister's constant refrain that Labour will take a "precautionary stance" on the commercial release of GM organisms once the moratorium ends.

The advantage in the GM debate has shifted in the Greens' favour for the rest of the campaign. But it will make it even more difficult for the Greens to contemplate coalition with Labour because Green supporters will think Labour cannot be trusted.

Much to National's delight, trust is right back on the election agenda for the second time in a week after the police report into the fake art scandal.

Paintergate was a trivial sideshow in which the Prime Minister committed a minor indiscretion for the best of motives.

Now, the embarrassment flowing from Paintergate has been compounded by something that goes right to the substance of government, something that looks like the kind of murky compromise to which ministers succumb in the face of pressure from industry lobbies.

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