Why the Liberals should accept defeat in Bradfield

Sydney Morning Herald

2 days ago

It is hardly surprising that the battered and bruised Liberal Party does not want to surrender one of its last bastions of metropolitan Sydney without a fight. To give up on Bradfield, which has been in Liberal hands for 75 years, would be the final nail in the coffin for the party, which has watched its heartland turn teal or, in the case of John Howard's former seat of Bennelong, stay firmly red.
The Liberals have an exceptional offering in Gisele Kapterian, who still has a frontbench spot on hold for her in the hope that she and not her teal nemesis Nicolette Boele ends up in Canberra. But for her sake and the party's, the Liberals should accept the loss in Bradfield, learn its lessons and focus on rebuilding the NSW division ahead of its next battle: the 2027 state election.
The party's only hope of retaining Bradfield rests on petitioning the Court of Disputed Returns to overturn the result. The Liberals are seeking legal advice. The appeal of pursuing court action is obvious from the party's perspective. Kapterian won the first count, albeit by just eight votes, only for Boele to overtake her on the recount and to emerge victorious with a final lead of 26. Liberals who are agitating for a court challenge say it is a no-brainer because Kapterian won initially.
But eight votes is far from a resounding win and the Australian Electoral Commission 's formal policy is to recount any result under 100. By the time the AEC wrapped up the final recount, most ballot papers in Bradfield had been counted seven times. The AEC, a well-established impartial and independent institution, followed due process but the final result was always going to disappoint someone. That is democracy. Mistakes can be made, which is why the AEC welcomes scrutineers for all candidates, but seeking to cast doubt on the electoral watchdog would reek of sour grapes.
There would also be costs to the party in mounting a legal challenge, although friendly Liberal-aligned barristers would be likely to offer their services pro bono. Kapterian was one of the most successful fundraisers for the Liberals ahead of the May poll, but given that some of their federal campaign was debt-financed based on pre-election polling (which turned out to be vastly wrong), the party will not recoup the public funding it had anticipated. A court challenge would be a financial impost on a party that will struggle to fundraise after such a monumental election loss. Depleted coffers will not help their NSW colleagues in March 2027.
Loading
There is, of course, the argument that the Liberals have nothing to lose by throwing everything at retaining the seat. If the results were reversed, Boele, who devoted three years to campaigning as the shadow MP for Bradfield, would no doubt be considering the same. The worst-case scenario, as many Liberals see it, is the status quo. Boele remains the MP for Bradfield and Kapterian suffers a respectable defeat. So why not take a risk?
There are other possible scenarios from a court challenge. The best, but also highly unlikely, would be that the result is overturned, and Kapterian is declared the winner. Even the most optimistic Liberals accept that will not happen. The second-best outcome would be for the election to be declared void, forcing Bradfield voters back to the polls.
Kapterian would have several factors on her side. There is no Peter Dutton factor, which was a drag on her vote, and her name recognition is higher thanks to coverage of the never-ending count. But there are cons, too. Firstly, the voters of Bradfield would be rightly annoyed at being dragged back to the polls. Secondly, the Liberals' dirty laundry has been well and truly aired post-election.