Bradfield electorate: Our voting system works but two changes would make it better

Politics

NSW

Australia votes

Opinion

Michael Yabsley Contributor October 2, 2025 — 5.00am

Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian last week ended her long and eventful bid to become the member for Bradfield – four months after the federal election. Her rollercoaster attempt to defeat the teal rival, Nicolette Boele, is a testament to the strength of our orderly and well-managed electoral system.

The battle for Bradfield, now the most marginal federal seat in the country – just 26 votes in it – involved seven vote counts, an official recount and an application (subsequently withdrawn) to the Court of Disputed Returns.

The process has demonstrated something I have long espoused – that for all the heat in the kitchen that elections generate, our democracy is as pristine as it gets. Th