It’s the seat the whole of Australia is watching. Bradfield, which has scooped up a third of the abolished North Sydney electorate, will be a contest between Independent Nicolette Boele, who caused a 15% swing against incumbent Paul Fletcher in the 2022 Federal Election, and Liberal Gisele Kapterian, a trade lawyer who worked for three cabinet ministers over six years. Editor in Chief Michelle Giglio reports.
NICOLETTE BOELE | Independent
Nicolette Boele has not stopped campaigning since she lost the seat of Bradfield in the 2022 Federal Election. Back then, with ‘only’ $340,000 in funding, Nicolette managed to make the North Shore seat go to preferences for the first time in its 75-year history. Why did she keep up the fight? “I wanted to let volunteers and the community know that I wasn’t going away, that I was in this for real,” she reflects. “And having lived in the community for over 50 of my 50-something years, it just made sense to give it my best shot!” she laughs.
The last Federal Election saw six community independents – often described as ‘teals’ – usurp sitting Liberals across the country, joining those who many consider one of the first, Warringah MP Zali Steggall, on the largest crossbench in federal history. All campaigned on a strong environmental platform, and many were backed by crowd-funding group Climate 200. These independents are largely selected by community groups like the Voices of Bradfield who invite prospective candidates to apply to be their candidate.
Before the last election, Nicolette was working at the intersection of finance and the clean energy industry, and she got an email from Voices of Bradfield suggesting she nominate. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard this year!” Nicolette remembers responding when she got the email. She politely refused – apparently passing the ‘first test.’ “They said, ‘We don’t want anyone who actually wants to do this.’ And that really piqued my interest.
“I realised I had to stop shouting at the TV. And if I really want our parliament to be full of people that my kids aspire to, I want those people to be the most consummate statespeople for our nation with our national interests at heart. And I’m not seeing it there. I’m just seeing point scoring and politics. So I thought, ‘I’ll give it a crack.’
Nicolette won 45% of the vote, polling highest of all other contenders.
Nicolette has left her consulting work with the Smart Energy Council to campaign full time for the seat, which has become 2.5% marginal Liberal since North Sydney was abolished, according to election analysts like the ABC’s Antony Green.
Given incumbent Liberal MP Paul Fletcher has resigned, some say the seat is within Nicolette’s grasp. But the Gordon resident is not taking anything for granted.
“I think because it is now a marginal seat, the contest has just become much harder. So numbers are numbers, but I’m focused on the conversations, on the listening and turning up to be the best representative that I can for the people of Bradfield.”
While she has worked with federal cross-benchers on how to get cheaper energy bills, and ran a households energy efficiency program for the NSW Government, she has never been involved in ‘politics.’ But Nicolette sees her ‘political clean skin’ as an advantage, not a detraction.
Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink and Nicolette Boele at Chatswood Lunar New Year in February
“The way that I see it, this is less about politics and more about better representation for the community. So I see myself as one of the hundreds of volunteers who are joining together to do something bigger than ourselves. Which is to say, ‘We want, and we deserve, better representation in our Federal Parliament.’
“So the fact that I have real world experience in business, in clean energy and also advocacy work in government and running programs, it gives me a difference. And that difference can only be a benefit when you see that what we’ve been dealing with is basically career politicians from the parties making the same decisions for the last few decades.”
Some 650 volunteers turned up to her campaign launch on 2 February, with many of North Sydney MP Kylea Tink’s supporters now part of ‘Team Nic.’ Together her supporters have knocked on 12,000 Bradfield doors. “People are telling us their power bills are too high, the grocery bills are just unaffordable. Younger people are not even thinking about buying a home. Seniors are having their adult children moving home because they haven’t been able to afford the mortgage when the interest rate’s gone up and are bringing the grandkids too.
Abolition of North Sydney – Bradfield’s gain
In October last year, the Australian Electoral Commission’s augmented electoral Commission for NSW decided that North Sydney should be abolished, and its electors carved up between Warringah to the east (held by Zali Steggall, Independent), Bradfield to the north (Paul Fletcher, Liberal) and Bennelong to the west (Jerome Laxale, ALP). Just over 33,100 voters from North Sydney have joined Bradfield, making up 25% of the seat. The Federal Election must be called by 17 May, with most pundits tipping 12 April.
Suburbs which have moved into Bradfield: Artarmon, Castle Cove, Castlecrag, Middle Cove, Northbridge, Chatswood East, St Leonards, Naremburn, North Willoughby, Willoughby
“I can’t tell you enough how much I’m hearing that people are hurting because the cost of living crisis is biting them.”
Is this something federal politicians can fix? “Absolutely. There’s the immediate relief that people are asking for, but ‘sugar fix rebates’ can exacerbate inflation and nobody wants that. We need to have a serious discussion about some of the reform agendas that are going to help with energy and other costs. Things like the role of government in housing, like whether our tax system is fit for the 21st century. Do we have true competition in our grocery sector?”
The daughter of Dutch migrants, Nicolette did all her primary, secondary and tertiary education in Gordon, Killara and Lindfield. While she is still getting to know ‘southern Bradfield,’ as the new suburbs of the electorate from North Sydney are known, she says many are showing interest in the campaign. “People sense that independents are not part of the chaos (of the political parties). We are hard-working individuals that want to get sensible solutions for the community.”
Nicolette says she is ‘passionate’ about getting greenhouse solutions for renters, who are at the mercy of landlords when it comes to solar installations.
“I excel in the hard places,” she laughs. “And I’m not scared to bring in really diverse views because I think when you put them around the table, you get a much better perspective about the
challenge.”
The mother of two realises that if she wins, she will be making history on many fronts in a seat which produced Australia’s seventh Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, in 1915. Nicolette would be the first non-Liberal in the seat’s history, and the first woman as well. Her campaign donations have already surpassed the amount raised in 2022, with support through Climate 200 and 650 individual donors. If elected, she says it would be ‘a massive privilege.’ “And an honour, and I’m going to work tirelessly. And I hope people can see that I have a good work ethic to deliver.”
GISELE KAPTERIAN | Liberal Party
When aged just 23, Gisele Kapterian was an international humanitarian lawyer who wanted to stand up for people who had no voice. So she moved to the Horn of Africa to represent Eritrea in the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission. This was established after their 1998-2000 war to determine reparation for war crimes.
“I was getting witness statements out in the middle of former war zones and demilitarised zones. And that’s where I started,” Gisele recalls.
“It became very apparent to me that unless the economic settings are right for a country, they have no negotiating power on the international scene. So it became very clear to me at an early age that the role of government, first and foremost, is about getting those economic settings right.”
Fast forward to 2025, and Gisele, 42, won preselection for the seat of Bradfield on 18 January, which leaves her little time to campaign in the electorate before the Federal Election, which must be held by 17 May. But Gisele was already the Liberal candidate for North Sydney, until the seat was abolished in September last year, so she does know a third of the electorate.
“We’ve hit the ground running!” she laughs. “We’ve been all up and down the electorate. I’ve been introducing myself to voters every single day out on the streets, meeting people. We are bringing such a dynamism and energy to this campaign.
“There’s never been a more important election in recent years than this one. And it is crucial for the future direction and strength of our economy and our country, that we ensure that we give the people of Bradfield a real choice at the next election, a choice where they can pick a candidate who can actually deliver something in Canberra.”
Gisele campaigning in the electorate
With 31 declared independents running across Australia, there is a possibility that neither major party will win a majority at the next election. The February Newspoll (published by The
Australian) has the Liberal-National Coalition on a narrow lead of 51-49
over Labor. YouGov, a snapshot of voting intentions on the day of survey, showed
the Coalition would win the most seats.
“The beautiful thing about being part of the two major parties, is that if we get the numbers, change happens tomorrow,” Gisele states. “This is not about commentating from the sidelines or reviewing legislation.
“This is about crafting that legislation, getting the numbers in the Lower House to be able to get it over the line quickly. It’s about creating change today for Australians.”
Born at Royal North Shore Hospital, Gisele is the daughter of Armenian migrants who settled in Willoughby, where she now lives after many years abroad in her early career. One of Gisele’s reasons for getting involved in politics is because her family is ‘essentially a microcosm of geopolitics.’ Her grandparents escaped the tragic Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1923 to settle in Jerusalem, where they lived in the Christian quarter.
“Politics has shaped my family’s journey and history. If you are not engaged in politics, politics finds you. And it’s about ensuring that you participate in politics in a way that upholds the values that preserves the freedoms and the opportunities and all the good things that we hold dear in western liberal democracies.”
In terms of her own career, it was while working as an international trade lawyer in Europe that she heard then Shadow Foreign Minister Julie Bishop talking about Australia being a ‘Top 20’ trading power in the world. “I thought, ‘What a beautiful articulation of my home country.’ And it resonated with my experience.
“I thought, ‘Let me come home and see if I can lend my skills to my country in this amazing articulation of what I think our country is actually all about and how great we are.’” Gisele returned to Australia, joined the Liberal Party and when the Coalition won government in 2013 with Tony Abbott as Prime Minister, Gisele started working as an advisor to former Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, then two other cabinet ministers in the trade and industry and innovation portfolios until 2018, when she rejoined the private sector.
Since starting on the Bradfield campaign, Gisele has pressed pause on her most recent position as a senior executive at global technology company Salesforce, ‘dealing with issues about generative artificial intelligence, privacy data…things that are shaping our society, our families’ lives at the moment.’
She describes Bradfield as ‘beautifully multicultural.’ “It’s a beautiful part of the world with great multicultural communities all tied together by similar values.
“(They show) it’s about helping each other out, rather than relying on government to do it.
“It’s about really standing up, making sure that we fulfill our side of the obligation of the social contract with our community and our country to say, ‘If you get educated, work hard, pay your taxes, have a go, and participate in your community, you’ll have the life that people dream of.’”
One of the main reasons Gisele decided to run in North Sydney (before it was abolished), is because she says this social contract ‘is at risk.’
“This country has given me and my family so many opportunities.
“And it is so important that I put up my hand up and contribute. I feel with my professional experience, and my lived experience in this electorate, that I’ll be able to make a serious contribution on the issues that count, to be able to make sure that that social contract is preserved for the next generations to come.”
On the campaign trail, locals at train stations and shopping centres are telling her that cost of living is the biggest issue – not being able to send children to their school of choice, or making choices about what food they can afford for dinner.
What can the Federal Government do about this? “Bring down inflation,” she says. “It’s about getting in place the right economic settings to increase housing affordability. When inflation comes down, mortgage repayments start coming down. And then we start increasing supply for housing.”
Rather than finding the campaign exhausting, Gisele says it is a ‘joy and a privilege.’
“It’s the fact that people come up to you and give you a glimpse into their lives, and the confidence to trust in you to do something about it. They spend that time with you because they’re investing in you to deliver something for them.”