Paul Fletcher took many local Liberal colleagues by surprise when he announced his intention to retire from Parliament at the next election, Crikey understands.
The moderate MP for the federal Sydney seat of Bradfield will cap a 15-year career which Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said was marked by “commitment and courage”.
Fletcher last week warned teal independent candidates were campaigning “very much in the tradition of front groups established by left-wing political operatives which are designed to lure votes away from the Liberal Party by tricking voters about their bona fides”.
But in a media statement on Tuesday announcing his retirement, he said it was simply a matter of giving someone else a chance: “Renewal is healthy, for people and institutions, and now is the right time to hand over the baton.”
Party sources who spoke to Crikey likewise tried to play down the role Fletcher’s teal challenger in Bradfield, independent candidate Nicolette Boele, might have played in his decision.
“There’s never a good time to go, but as he signalled in his statement, he’s just looking to take a holiday and then go into the private sector,” one Liberal said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal party matters.
Nevertheless, the sudden announcement struck some local party colleagues as curious.
“It was very surprising — he had already begun campaigning for reelection and has been working the local crowds very hard,” one source said. “He’s invested a lot into this so it came as a shock.”
Boele managed to cut the Liberal margin in Bradfield by 12.3% at the 2022 election after the party previously held it on a very safe 16.6% margin.
Boele was described in a Capital Brief story as feeling “bullish” about her chances at the next election, warning the Liberal locals were sick of the major parties and saying: “People remember Peter Dutton as Home Affairs minister”.
Liberal nominations for the seat opened late Tuesday night, and any party members who want to nominate will have to do so before next Tuesday.
One of the people seen as a strong contender is Gisele Kapterian, a former Liberal Party staffer and current Salesforce executive director, who was preselected to run for the nearby seat of North Sydney, a seat that is being abolished by the electoral commission.
Kapterian, a moderate, confirmed to Crikey she intends to nominate for the seat. Party sources speculated she could be a strong candidate and noted she had already gone through the party’s vetting process when she was preselected for North Sydney.
Another name being thrown around is Penny George, director of corporate affairs at the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and the wife of NSW Liberal upper house MP Scott Farlow. She told The Sydney Morning Herald she was “currently considering” a run for Bradfield.
“It is a surprise about Paul’s retirement. I need some time to consider my options and how I can contribute to my local community in the Australian Parliament,” she was quoted as saying.
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