Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   notes that:

     (i)   Senator Rhiannon has acknowledged that some votes shifted away from the Greens in Marrickville in the New South Wales local government elections because of the boycott of Israel issue,

     (ii)   Marrickville Greens councillor, Ms Marika Kontellis, voted in 2011 to retain the Council's Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) policy and in August 2012 attended the Byron Bay BDS conference,

     (iii)   the New South Wales Greens chose Mr Karel Solomon, a BDS advocate who has branded Israel an apartheid state, as a candidate for the Marrickville Council, and

     (iv)   Ms Irene Doutney, the Greens candidate for Sydney Lord Mayor, has supported BDS actions and said that she personally favours a full boycott of Israel;

  (b)   calls on the New South Wales Greens to explicitly reject the BDS policy; and

  (c)   condemns the BDS campaign.

I seek leave to make a short statement.