Liberals still considering challenge on Bradfield election loss, says James Paterson

Coalition senator James Paterson says the NSW Liberal Party is still deciding whether to challenge the outcome of the prized Sydney seat of Bradfield, adding that he hopes Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian will be included in the 42nd parliament.

Despite leading the initial count by eight votes, Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian lost to Climate 200 backed independent Nicolette Boele by just 26 votes in the ensuing recount.

The state branch will have until 40 days after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) returns the writs, which the body must do before July 9.

Speaking to the ABC on Sunday, Senator Paterson said it would be a matter for the NSW Liberal branch as well as Ms Kapterian, and said no decision has been made as of yet.

“I understand the NSW Liberal Party is reviewing our legal options and I really hope that we can find a way to have Giselle Kapterian in the parliament in this term because she’s exactly the kind of person that would make the Liberal Party better, the parliament better and our country better,” he said.

“She’s got great insights, great professional experience, she’s a person I hope to be playing a big role in the future of our party.

“But it will be up to the NSW division and then ultimately if we do decide to make any application, the Court of Disputed Returns to decide that.”

Senator Paterson also said a potential challenge wouldn’t necessarily result in a by-election.

He pointed to the 2007 election result of McEwen where a Labor challenge at the Court of Disputed Returns focused on the validity of the informal ballots.

However the Court ultimately dismissed the case and awarded the seat to then Liberal MP Fran Bailey.

The former Salesforce executive has also been given the assistant shadow portfolios for communications, and technology and the digital economy, and her loss would trigger a minor shadow cabinet shuffle.

As recently as Thursday, incumbent Bradfield MP Nicolette Boele confirmed she had yet to receive a concession call from Ms Kapterian.

Considerations behind a potential challenge will be based on the difference in the total number of votes counted between the first and second count, and the fact about 170 previously informal ballot papers had been reclassified and allowed in the recount.

A Liberal source also noted that the two counts produced two different votes, with the difference in both counts making up less than 0.02 per cent of the total number of ballots cast across the electorate.

Speaking on Sky, Tim Wilson, who is the only Liberal challenger who won a seat from a teal independent, credited his campaign win to running a consistent “big, bold and ambitious” three-year campaign.

“We captured their sense of hope and aspiration for themselves and their families, and we did it on the basis that people understood that they weren’t just voting on the direction of the community … they were also deciding partly the future direction of the Liberal Party, (and) increasingly also the direction of Australia as well,” he said.

Following his ousting from the Melbourne seat of Goldstein in 2022, Mr Wilson won the seat back from Zoe Daniels in a precarious count which saw both sides declare themselves the victor before the AEC finalised its count.