Liberals Reclaim Goldstein from Climate 200 Teal MP as Kooyong, Bradfield Race Tightens

Liberal Tim Wilson has claimed victory in the seat of Goldstein, after Teal MP Zoe Daniel initially claimed victory on election night.

"Teal" Independent Goldstein Zoe Daniel (L) speaks to voters at a pre-polling centre in Hampton in Melbourne, Australia, on May 18, 2022. Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

The Liberal Party has claimed victory in the seat of Goldstein, days after Teal MP Zoe Daniel declared an early win on May 3.

Teal independent Monique Ryan also celebrated early but is now shedding votes in the blue-ribbon seat of Kooyong to Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer.

The Liberal Party’s Tim Wilson is currently leading vote counting against Daniel by 974, marking a significant turnaround from election night, when she was ahead by 1,800 votes.

Wilson, who previously held the seat before losing it to Daniel in 2022, credited a grassroots campaign for his comeback.

“I am genuinely very proud to say that we are pleased to accept that we have won the seat of Goldstein back for the Liberal Party,” he told reporters in Brighton within his electorate.

“It doesn’t shock anybody that I have a deep interest in economic policy.”

Wilson also benefitted from boundary changes to Goldstein, which saw the electorate take in more Liberal Party-friendly areas.

Meanwhile, Daniel said she would wait for further counting before conceding, out of respect for the democratic process.

“This seems sensible given the margin is in the hundreds and there are about 12,000 remaining votes to be counted. I am so proud of teams and the positive campaign that we ran,” she said on May 6.

Daniel had prematurely claimed victory on election night before backtracking the next day when she realised it was too close to call.

“What we have created in this community is rare … We might not have a minority government, but I’m pretty sure we can pull some levers,” she told supporters on May 3.

In the New South Wales seat of Bradfield, Liberal Gisele Kapterian is pulling further ahead of the climate-200-backed candidate, after trailing on election night.

Most of the Climate 200-backed candidates held their seats with victories in Sydney’s Wentworth, Warrringah, and Mackellar, Curtin in Perth, Mayo in South Australia, Indi in Victoria, and Clark in Tasmania.

Kooyong Count Continues

Meanwhile, Kooyong’s Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer is closing in on incumbent independent Monique Ryan, now trailing by just 622 votes.

Hamer, 31, is the Oxford-educated grandniece of former Victorian Premier Dick Hamer.

She campaigned as a renter but later confirmed ownership of two properties outside Melbourne. The seat was previously held by former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

“It’s too close to call anything right now, but you know, if the postals do continue on the trajectory that we’ve seen so far … there is a pathway,” Hamer said on 3AW.

Hamer considered calling to concede the election on May 3, but changed her mind after advice from her campaign team.

“The first thing I actually did was speak to the team. I said, ‘Should I call and concede?’ The team said to me, ‘No, what’s coming out of pre-poll is much more positive.’ And I trust my team so we hung on,” she said.

In a social media post to an Instagram story, Hamer added, “Whichever way it goes, everyone who was part of the campaign should be so proud of what we achieved.”

Teal Monique Ryan has also urged patience, saying the election result remains too close to call, and it would take days or weeks for an outcome.

“Thank you, Kooyong, for your support,” she said on Facebook. “Thanks to my team, my family, and all of the Kooyong volunteers for your extraordinary hard work. And thanks to the AEC workers who are still dealing with a whole lot of ballots.”

Ryan campaigned on a rapid transition to renewables, and advocating for climate change emissions to be cut by at least 75 percent by 2035.

State of Play in Bradfield

The Liberals are now ahead in Bradfield on Sydney’s north shore, despite the Teals looking like they had snared the seat on election night.

Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian, a friend of former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian, is now ahead by 220 votes against Climate 200-backed Nicolette Boele

This is a huge turnaround from election night, where the teal candidate was leading with 52 percent of the vote compared to 48 percent for the Liberals.

Kapterian is a senior director at global technology company Salesforce and previously served as an advisor to senior Coalition ministers, including Julie Bishop.

Teal candidate Boele is a clean energy executive who led the local “yes” vote for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in 2023.

The Labor Party is currently on track to win 87 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, with the Coalition currently projected to hold 40 seats. Labor’s two-party preferred vote was boosted by preferences from the Greens and Teal independents.