A senior tech executive has trounced prominent anti-Voice campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine in a key pre-election battle as the Liberal party tries to ward off another teal triumph.
Cambridge University law graduate Gisele Kapterian was on Saturday preselected as Liberal candidate for Bradfield, replacing the retiring former social services minister Paul Fletcher.
The former safe seat on Sydney's north shore is finely balanced on a 2.5-per-cent margin after the rise of teal candidate Nicolette Boele and a major redistribution.
Ms Kapterian blew her two male opponents out of the water in the first voting round, winning an absolute majority of the 400-odd preselectors and ending any need for a run-off.
Mr Mundine was eliminated alongside 2022 Liberal candidate for Dobell Dr Michael Feneley.
It's a major blow to the political ambitions of Mr Mundine, who was shaping up for his second run for federal parliament with the Liberal Party after several with Labor.
The conservative Aboriginal leader's political stocks rose in 2023 after becoming a prominent face for the No campaign in the voice referendum.
His preselection had been supported by fellow No campaign figurehead, coalition Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Ms Boele congratulated her opponent but argued the Bradfield community would be better served by breaking away from "the major party duopoly".
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said Ms Kapterian, a fellow moderate, was "simply the right candidate at the right time" for Bradfield.
"I know (preselectors) would have been impressed, as I was, by her extraordinary CV, her powerful intellect, her ability to connect and communicate, her experience in the tech sector, in government, and the fact that she is a great multicultural success story in this country," Ms Ley said on Saturday.
No seat was taken for granted, Ms Ley said.
"The road to government for Peter Dutton and the Liberal team goes through every single teal seat," she said.
Ms Kapterian had been campaigning in the southern part of the seat as the Liberal candidate for North Sydney before the seat was abolished and absorbed by Bradfield in 2024.
Paul Fletcher was the only Liberal to remain on Sydney's north shore after the 2022 election after North Sydney (Kylia Tink) and Mackellar (Sophie Scamps) followed Warringah (Zali Steggall) into the hands of teal independents.
Ms Kapterian said she was humbled to follow in the footsteps of Mr Fletcher and would run to improve the economic situation for local households and businesses.
"Households are incredibly stressed about paying off their post-Christmas credit card bill, and this Labor Government only keeps adding to their struggles," she said in a party-issued statement.
"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."
The 2022 election marked the first time the Liberal party did not win Bradfield on primary votes.
Mr Fletcher's vote collapsed from 60 per cent to 45, before scraping together a 54-46 win over Ms Boele once all other candidates were eliminated.
The 2024 redistribution shaved an estimated 1.5 per cent off that margin, according to ABC election analyst Antony Green.
The next federal election is due by May 17.
