Battle for Sydney’s leafy north shore seat split by 211 votes

In one of the nation’s tightest electoral races, the Liberal Party candidate leads her teal opponent by only a couple hundred votes.

Liberal candidate for Bradfield, Gisele Kapterian, talking to voters in Chatswood. Picture: Julian Andrews

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The battle for Bradfield on Sydney’s north shore is going down to the wire, with postal votes propelling Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian ahead of her teal challenger, bucking the trend of losses in marginal suburban electorates.

Ms Kapterian is now 211 votes ahead of Climate 200-backed candidate Nicolette Boele, thanks to a postal vote count that skewed significantly towards the Liberal Party, 58-42 per cent.

With only 900 postal votes remaining and several thousand absent votes, which don’t necessarily trend one way or the other, still to be counted, both candidates are remaining tight-lipped until the seat is called.

Despite refusing to declare victory, the teal independent on Instagram said “nationwide results show that Australians overwhelmingly reject the negative, toxic politics we’ve seen during this campaign”.

Nicolette Boele at her election night event at Buckle Cafe and Distillery in Artarmon. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“Regardless of the outcome, this community has made it clear we expect our representatives to listen to and respond to the concerns of this community,” Ms Boele said.

Former Liberal MP for the now teal-held seat of Mackellar Jason Falinski suggested voters had seen through the “community-led” line broadcast by Climate 200-backed candidates in Bradfield. “Simon Holmes a Court will say he spent x amount of money … but that’s only direct Climate 200 funding, that’s not accounting for the donors he directed to the campaigns, or the fake newspaper he set up, or the It’s Not a Race campaign,” he said.

“When you add all these front groups in, you end up with … north of $5m spent in Bradfield alone.”

The current count shows a 3.29 per cent swing towards the independent after her failed run against the now-retired Liberal cabinet minister Paul Fletcher, at the 2022 election.

Former federal MP Jason Falinski said the community had seen through the “community-led” line broadcast by the teals. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

All three of Sydney’s incumbent teal candidates comfortably retained their seats, with Allegra Spender fending off Liberal candidate Ro Knox, in a messy race for the seat of Wentworth in the city’s east.

Ms Knox attributed her loss in the teal-held seat to “the negative campaign run against Peter Dutton” but was hopeful the margin held by the Liberals in Bradfield would help secure a “fantastic result” for Ms Kapterian.

“I think she’s an outstanding candidate, and I’m so glad the electorate has been able to see that,” she told The Australian.