Sydney Labor's dirty tricks

Carmel Tebbutt makes false claims about Greens preferences

Greens candidate for Marrickville, Councillor Fiona Byrne, said she was astonished that Carmel Tebbutt so blatantly misled the public about Greens preferences at a climate change forum in Marrickville on Tuesday night.

"Ms Tebbutt told the forum that the Greens had preferenced the Coalition before Aboriginal Labor MP Linda Burney in the seat of Canterbury during the 2003 State election.

"This is false. The Greens have never preferenced the Coalition ahead of Labor in any state or federal electorate in NSW.

"The 'How to Vote' for the Canterbury Greens in 2003 recommended that voters put 1. The Greens, 2. Save Our Suburbs and then exhaust.

"Carmel Tebbutt made a clear attempt to smear the Greens in front of an audience that is concerned about the environment," Clr Byrne said.

Greens MP and lead upper house candidate Lee Rhiannon said, "Labor is desperate to reduce the Greens primary vote, particularly in seats like Marrickville and Balmain, where we are gaining more support.

"One trick is to frighten voters into mistakenly believing that a vote for the Greens might assist in electing a Coalition government.

"During the 2005 Marrickville by-election voters woke up on polling day to read allegations in a major Sydney paper that the Greens had spied and stalked Carmel Tebbutt, using 'ASIO style tactics'. This also was blatantly untrue.

"Labor is notorious for dirty tricks and misinformation in Labor/Greens marginal seats in the final days of election campaigns.

"'When voters hear negative reports about The Greens from Labor party sources, the truth of those reports needs to be questioned, and voters need to consider if Labor really deserves their vote," Ms Rhiannon said.