Who is Gisele Kapterian, the Liberal candidate for Bradfield?

In mid-January, Gisele Kapterian was named the Liberal Party candidate for the northern Sydney seat of Bradfield, following the retirement of long-serving Liberal MP Paul Fletcher.

Fletcher, who held the seat for 15 years, announced his departure in December, opening the way for a new era in one of the party’s mainstay electorates - though one that came under serious challenge in 2022 from Independent Nicolette Boele.

Securing preselection over Warren Mundine, a statement announcing Kapterian’s candidacy on the Liberal Party’s website said Fletcher had been a “diligent and determined fighter for the needs of the people of Bradfield.

A lot at stake

Kapterian has said she will fight for local families and assist small and family businesses. She aims to “deliver investment for the services and infrastructure that our community needs.”

“There is a lot at stake for our community at the coming election,” she said in her candidacy announcement, and asserting another Labor term would have an impact on family budgets, business closures, and cuts to services and infrastructure.

“The only way we can get the economy and our country back on track is by putting an end to Labor’s cost of living spiral with a change of government.

Background

The daughter of migrants, Kapterian was born at Royal North Shore Hospital and raised in North Willoughby where she now resides.

In a recent interview, she spoke positively about her upbringing, praising the “great exposure to the way other cultures think.”

After obtaining a combined Arts/Law degree from Macquarie University and graduating with honours, she studied law at the University of Cambridge and went on to work as an international trade lawyer in Geneva and London.

She served as an advisor to three federal cabinet ministers between 2013 and 2018 including former Foreign Minister Julia Bishop, before joining global technology company Salesforce in 2019 as a Director of Public Sector strategy.

Liberal policy priorities in Bradfield

According to Kapterian’s campaign announcement, the key issues on the North Shore are housing, supporting small businesses and fighting inflation. Kapterian lambasts the Albanese government’s track record as akin to “economic vandalism.”

The Coalition recently made an election pledge of $1 million to deliver an upgrade to South Turramurra’s sporting facilities, and Kapterian can be seen on Instagram campaigning in the community. Most recently, she posted in celebration of Norwruz, or Persian New Year.

In a January interview with the Australian Financial Review, Kapterian also said she was interested in domestic tax policy, something she said needed a wholesale review. “This is not just about individual taxation, about company taxation. It’s about how we tax and when we tax,” she said.

Bradfield hotseat

With the seat of Bradfield having been held by the Liberal party for 75 years and Independent candidate Nicolette Boele coming close to winning it in 2022, this election is seen as a critical junction.

Kapterian will aim to win Bradfield and maintain the electorate as a persistent Liberal Party presence – but she will have to defeat Nicolette Boele and Labor’s candidate, Louise McCallum, to do so.

The North Shore Lorikeet has reached out to Gisele Kapterian multiple times for an interview as part of our series of profiles of MPs and candidates across the North shore.