Teal candidate apologises for sexualised joke to teen hairdresser

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A teal candidate on Sydney’s north shore has apologised for making a sexual joke to a 19-year-old female hairdresser, which she has admitted was a poor attempt at humour.

Independent Nicolette Boele, who is hoping to seize the blue-ribbon seat of Bradfield from the Liberals, has been banned from local hairdressing salon Envy Room after she allegedly told the hairdresser that her hair wash “was so good and I didn’t even have sex with you”.

Teal candidate for Bradfield Nicolette Boele has apologised.Credit: Edwina Pickles

The incident, first reported by Ben Fordham on Nine’s 2GB Sydney radio station, risks disrupting Boele’s campaign in her second attempt, after she came close to unseating long-term Liberal MP and frontbencher Paul Fletcher at the last election.

Fletcher announced his retirement in December, taking his colleagues by surprise and forcing them to find a replacement candidate.

In a statement, Boele did not deny making the comments.

“It was a poor attempt at humour and I’ve apologised,” Boele said. “Everyone deserves to feel respected in their workplace and I’ll do better.”

Fordham said his program was contacted by the husband of an Envy Room customer, who said the alleged comments were made in the salon, which is opposite Boele’s Pacific Highway office, about two weeks ago.

“If that was a man saying that, there would and should be an investigation,” the husband said in an email to Fordham.

The email to Fordham said Boele had been sent a letter from the salon’s management saying she would not be welcomed back.

Boele’s spokesman would not confirm whether Boele had been sent a legal letter banning her from returning. Envy Room owner Betty Vu declined to comment on Tuesday.

The Bradfield electorate has been held by Fletcher since 2009 and is now a tight contest between Boele and Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian.

Kapterian, a former Liberal staffer and Salesforce executive, was originally preselected for the teal-held seat of North Sydney, but it was abolished in a boundary redistribution.

Boele has maintained her campaign office in Gordon, styling herself as the “Bradfield community independent” since the 2022 election, when she managed to slash Fletcher’s buffer, turning it into a marginal seat after she secured a primary vote of 20.89 per cent.

Her team says she has amassed than 1100 volunteers, including some who worked on North Sydney teal MP Kylea Tink’s campaign. Tink is not contesting the May 3 election after her electorate was abolished.

The battle for Bradfield is shaping up to be a tight contest and the electorate is plastered with Boele’s advertising material. On Monday, Boele’s legal team sent Ku-ring-gai Council a letter, demanding to know why a council ranger removed corflutes from one of her volunteers’ homes last Thursday.

A spokesperson for the council said the signs were removed because the election had not yet been called. “NSW planning laws only allow electoral signs to be placed on private property once an election date has been set,” the spokesperson said.