Candidate cloud to overshadow Greens wins

DESPITE the likelihood of picking up their first lower house seats in NSW history, the Greens have a cloud hanging over them.

DESPITE the likelihood of picking up their first lower house seats in the history of the NSW parliament, the Greens will go into today's state election with a cloud hanging over the party as the backlash against one of their key candidates gathers momentum.

Fiona Byrne, who is tipped to win the inner-west seat of Marrickville, has attracted sharp criticism this week after it was revealed that she twice gave misleading information about her support for a boycott of Israeli goods and culture.

On Monday, the Greens candidate denied that she had ever expressed an intention to introduce an Israel boycott into state parliament, but was embarrassed when audio from a February press conference was produced in which she explicitly said it was her party's policy.

On Thursday, Ms Byrne was again embarrassed after it emerged that she had agreed to speak at a rally next week in support of a boycott of all things Israeli and in protest against "Israeli apartheid".

Ms Byrne denied her involvement, until shown a flyer for the event, which advertised her as a speaker.

Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt, who is the current member for Marrickville and is seeking to see off Ms Byrne's challenge for her seat, said yesterday the Greens candidate's recent behaviour showed that she was not fit to be a member of parliament.

"This issue shows that when the Greens are placed under great scrutiny, they often don't measure up," Ms Tebbutt told The Weekend Australian.

"They want to run for seats and they want to have representation in the state parliament but they need to expect to be under the same scrutiny that other parties are subject to every day.

"When they are subject to this scrutiny, they seek to blame others but these are comments Fiona Byrne has publicly made herself."

Ms Byrne also came under fire from within her own party yesterday, with Ian Cohen - the longest-serving NSW Greens MP, who is retiring at this election after 16 years in the legislative assembly - criticising the Greens' handling of the issue.

"I don't think it (the boycott) was the right way to go about it at this point in time," Mr Cohen said.

Ms Byrne did not return calls from The Weekend Australian yesterday, but on Thursday she sought to clarify the matter on Sydney's 2GB.

"I have no plan or intention to introduce the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel) to state parliament," Ms Byrne said.

NSW Greens upper house MP David Shoebridge yesterday backed Ms Byrne and said that support for the Israeli boycott was not party policy.

"The decision to support the boycott was taken by Marrickville Council . . . but there's no intention to carry the policy beyond that," Mr Shoebridge said.

He accused Labor of running a dirty-tricks campaign in the electorate.