A teal-backed MP who clinched the most closely fought contest of the federal election has vowed to fight a Liberal Party challenge to her seat.
Nicolette Boele was declared the MP for the north Sydney seat of Bradfield a month after the May 3 election, after vote tallying and an automatic recount.
She eventually beat Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian by just 26 votes in the seat, formerly one of the party’s crown jewels.
Late on Monday, more than two months after constituents voted, Kapterian revealed she would take the decision to the umpire, the Court of Disputed Returns, which is part of the High Court.
On Tuesday, Boele confirmed she’d fight the challenge – and she was seeking help from her community.
“Everything we’ve worked for is on the line,” she said.
“The Liberal Party has a legal team and enormous resources. I have community.
“But we can’t rely on volunteers in the High Court, we need good lawyers and that is expensive.”
Boele said if she won and the Liberals were asked to cover her legal costs, she would offer a refund for every donor.
More than 118,000 ballots were cast in the seat of Bradfield in the May election.
Kapterian led the original count by eight votes, and was appointed a shadow assistant minister in Sussan Ley’s Coalition frontbench.
However, the automatic recount triggered by the close result declared Boele the final winner.
The seat result was confirmed in early June, the last from the federal election. Kapterian took until Monday night to announce her challenge.
She said she was requesting a targeted examination of a handful of ballots, but stressed her continued confidence in the integrity of Australia’s electoral system.
“Pursuing this final step will provide collective confidence that the final result reflects the true wishes of the voters in Bradfield and remove any remaining doubt created by the two conflicting counts,” she said.
Boele maintained the people of Bradfield had spoken and said she had confidence in the process that had led to the result.
“For three weeks, our amazing volunteers scrutineered all 118,858 ballots cast. Other volunteers brought home-cooked meals. It was a beautiful example of community democracy in action,” she said.
“We have absolute confidence in the work of the Australian Electoral Commission and in the integrity of its processes.”
Boele is set to take her seat in Canberra next week when federal parliament resumes for the first time since the election.
-with AAP
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