Anti-voice campaigner will face off with Gisele Kapterian for preselection, counting Tony Abbott and John Anderson among his supporters
A pre-election ideological battle is stirring in the marginal north Sydney seat of Bradfield as NSW Liberal factions fight for their preferred federal candidate after the sudden retirement of senior moderate, Paul Fletcher.
Warren Mundine, the face of the anti-voice campaign and the conservative faction’s frontrunner, is in a race against former Liberal staffer and Salesforce executive Gisele Kapterian for Bradfield preselection in a bid to stave off the popular teal candidate, Nicolette Boele, who reduced Fletcher’s margin to just 4.23% on a two-party preferred basis in 2022.
But the state’s senior moderates believe Mundine’s success at next Saturday’s preselection would place the once-safe Liberal seat in independent hands at a time when Peter Dutton’s path to victory in the upcoming federal election requires a reversal of the teals’ success last election.
Bradfield was the only Liberal-held seat in the country to return a majority yes vote in the 2023 referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament.
Mundine’s 11-page dossier, obtained by Guardian Australia, features endorsements from fellow leading anti-Voice campaigners, including former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and former deputy prime minister John Anderson.
His supporters praised the once-national ALP president, who unsuccessfully contested Gilmore at the 2019 election, for his efforts in campaigning against the voice.
Abbott told Guardian Australia Mundine had a “long and distinguished record of standing up for beliefs and values that nearly all Liberals would support”.
“The fact that he was once Labor is an advantage because he’s personal testament to Labor’s decline as a party for everyday Australians.”
But members of the moderate faction, of which Fletcher is a senior leader, said Mundine would devastate the party’s chances of clawing back gains made by inner-city independent candidates.
One senior Liberal, who spoke to Guardian Australia on the condition of anonymity, said Mundine was the “exact opposite of what that community wants”.
“It’ll be extraordinary to watch Peter Dutton trying to sell a climate-denying, anti-voice, former ALP candidate to the most establishment community in the country,” they said.
“This is a chance for the Liberal Party to prove, once and for all, how out of touch and unrepresentative they are.”
In his pitch to “Make Bradfield Safe Again”, Mundine said the electorate was not a “teal seat” with voters who could afford “luxury beliefs or who are naturally drawn to a Green-left/Labor alliance”.
“We don’t need to be teal-lite to win Bradfield,” the dossier said.
“We mustn’t define ourselves by reference to our opponents but must champion what we stand for as Liberals with leadership and courage, confident our values resonate with the Bradfield community.”
Mundine’s challenger, Kapterian, is considered the “logical” candidate by moderates and unaligned members after she secured preselection for the soon-to-be abolished seat of North Sydney in 2023.
NSW Liberal sources told Guardian Australia that Kapterian is seen as a centrist who can work across the factions and would give the party its best chance against a teal candidate.
Former Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey told Guardian Australia that Kapterian had his “emphatic support”, adding that he had written a reference for her.
“I’ve known her for some time, and she is an extremely talented individual with the capacity to be a future leader of the Liberal Party,” he said.
While a number of sources Guardian Australia spoke to said the race for Bradfield was “tight”, some believe the moderate faction had secured the numbers.
One NSW Liberal source said Mundine – who announced his Bradfield tilt while on a study tour in Israel – had not done the “work” to rally support among preselectors.
“His whole campaign is an air campaign; there is no ground campaign,” said the source, who was confident Kapterian would win the nomination.
Mundine could not comment due to party rules that prevent candidates from speaking publicly about the process.
