NSW Liberals push Greiner to fund Bradfield court challenge after 26-vote loss

NSW Liberal members want party bosses to fund a court challenge and indemnify Bradfield candidate Gisele Kapterian in a bid to have her failed election result overturned and prompt a byelection in the country’s most marginal seat.

However, there is increasing concern from some within the Liberals that a court challenge would be a risk financially and politically for a party trying to recover from a devastating federal election loss which reduced its seat count in NSW to six.

Polling from Climate 200 also shows successful teal candidate Nicolette Boele would increase her primary vote if Bradfield voters were forced back to the polls in a byelection.

Gisele Kapterian contested Bradfield for the Liberals. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Boele won Bradfield after a full recount handed her victory by just 26 votes, but the Liberals are weighing up whether to petition the Court of Disputed Returns in the hope the court would declare the result void.

Boele’s win marked the first time in 75 years that the seat is not held by the Liberals, but despite the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) declaring her the winner, Kapterian has not conceded.

Party elder and former premier Nick Greiner is chair of the new management committee appointed to run the troubled NSW division, which was forced into a federal takeover last year after its spectacular failure to nominate 144 Liberal candidates for the local government elections.

Bradfield branch presidents have urged party members to write to Greiner, and party state director Chris Stone, and insist they provide funding for Kapterian’s challenge.

“For Gisele to proceed, [it] requires funding the legal case and the Liberal Party NSW should agree to fund the legal case and indemnify Gisele from any personal expense in case the legal challenge is unsuccessful,” an email to branch members and senior party officials says.

“To persuade the Liberal Party NSW to take this action, Gisele requires the party to see that she has the strong support of Liberal Party Branch executives and individual members.”

Kapterian initially won by eight votes, but ballots were recounted. Under the AEC policy, there is an automatic recount if there are fewer than 100 votes separating candidates.

Climate 200, which funded some of Boele’s campaign, polled Bradfield voters last month, asking 1147 constituents who they would give their first preference to if a byelection was called.

Kapterian’s primary vote, according to the uComms poll, was 37.3 per cent (down from 38 per cent at the election), while Boele’s primary vote increased from 27 per cent to 33 per cent.

While individual seat polling can be inaccurate, the uComms results would confirm some Liberals’ fears that Kapterian would be beaten again in a rematch.

Several sources within the NSW Liberals, who are unauthorised to speak to the media, said it could cost the party as much as $250,000 to challenge the result. Some fear that figure could be higher if they were unsuccessful.

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

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