Teal candidate Nicolette Boele wins final Bradfield recount, court challenge looms

Teal candidate Nicolette Boele has seized the once blue-ribbon north shore seat of Bradfield after a recount, beating Liberal hopeful Gisele Kapterian by just 26 votes in one of the tightest elections in history.

Boele’s win will mark the first time in 75 years that the seat is not held by the Liberals but despite the Australian Electoral Commission declaring Boele the winner, Kapterian has not conceded and has indicated she would consider taking the result to court.

Independent Nicollette Boele has won the seat of Bradfield following a recount.Credit: Oscar Colman

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Kapterian said: “The recount has created a different result – while I was ahead at the conclusion of the original count, Ms Boele is now ahead after this recount. I will now carefully review the two counts.” Boele is due to hold a press conference this afternoon.

Boele won the seat on her second attempt, after almost unseating former Liberal frontbencher Paul Fletcher in 2022. She continued campaigning full-time for three years, styling herself as the shadow MP for Bradfield.

Speaking after the count concluded on Wednesday afternoon, Boele said she was “excited, honoured and really grateful” to have won the seat.

She said the drawn-out counting process had been a “rollercoaster ride” but it had given her a “huge boost in confidence in the strength of our democracy”.

Asked whether she thought it appropriate for Kapterian to seek to have the result overturned in the Court of Disputed Returns, Boele said: “It has been a close count, but I have full confidence in the processes of the AEC”.

“I ran in 2022, I ran in 2025, and I will run again in 2028,” Boele said.

Boele will join fellow NSW teals Allegra Spender (Wentworth), Sophie Scamps (Mackellar) and Zali Steggall (Warringah) on the crossbench.

The loss of Bradfield will be a huge blow to the Liberals and the party is considering petitioning the Court of Disputed Returns in a bid to have the election declared void.

So confident were the Liberals that they would hold Bradfield, Kapterian travelled to Canberra to vote in the party’s leadership ballot last month, which saw Sussan Ley become the first federal female Liberal leader.

Ley then included Kapterian in her shadow frontbench, despite the recount not being completed.

Liberal sources not authorised to speak publicly on the party’s legal plans said there were several points that the party would consider when deciding whether to petition the Court of Disputed Returns.

These include the fact that the first count and the recount produced two different winners, with both results representing less than 0.02 per cent of the total ballots cast. Also, between the two counts about 170 votes that were originally assessed as formal were ruled informal, which is more than six times the margin separating both candidates following the recount.

Scrutineers with Australian Electoral Commission staff conducting a recount for the federal electorate of Bradfield.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Another ground they will argue is that the total votes increased between the first full count and the recount, which accounted for about one-third of the final difference between Boele and Kapterian, the Liberal sources said.

The count for Bradfield has been a roller-coaster ride for the candidates. The seat was called for Boele on election night by the ABC and Nine, only for Kapterian to forge ahead on the back of postal votes to be in a winnable position several days later.

In her statement, Kapterian thanked the work of the AEC officials and her “many volunteers” who have scrutinised the counting over several weeks.

“This process is testament to the adage ‘if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together’,” her statement said.

“I’m so grateful for the efforts of the many who have taken us this far. I have witnessed the same dedication from Nicolette and her team.”

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