2024 Cook by-election

2024 Cook by-election

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Division of Cook (NSW) in the House of Representatives
First party Second party   Candidate Simon Kennedy Martin Moore Party Liberal Greens Primary  vote 53,799 13,649 Percentage 62.67% 16.45% Swing 7.14 6.55 TCP 71.25% 28.75% TCP swing 8.81 28.75   Third party Fourth party   AJP Candidate Natasha Brown Vinay Kolhatkar Party Animal Justice Libertarian Primary  vote 5,841 5,117 Percentage 6.80% 5.96% Swing 6.80 5.96
MP before election Scott Morrison Liberal Elected MP Simon Kennedy Liberal

The 2024 Cook by-election was held on 13 April 2024 to elect the member for Cook in the Australian House of Representatives, following the resignation of Liberal MP and former prime minister Scott Morrison. ^[1]

Morrison's resignation was first announced on 23 January 2024, and came into effect on 28 February 2024. ^[2]

Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy succeeded Morrison as the new member for Cook. It was the fourth and final federal by-election to have taken place since the first sitting of the 47th Parliament.

Background

Seat details

Cook encompasses much of Sutherland Shire in Sydney's southern suburbs. It was first contested at the 1969 Australian federal election and named after naval captain and explorer James Cook. It has been held by the Liberal Party for all but two terms, the lone exception being 1972–1975 when the Australian Labor Party held the seat. The Liberal margin swelled in the Coalition's 1996 victory. Since then, Cook has been one of the safest Liberal seats in metropolitan Australia.

Demographics

During the 2021 Australian census, Cook's median age of 42 exceeded both the national (38) and state (39) medians. In the realm of economic indicators, the median personal weekly income in Cook amounted to $991, surpassing the corresponding figures for the state and nation, which stood at $813 and $805 respectively. Additionally, the demographic composition of the electorate saw over 60 percent identifying their ancestry as English or Australian. ^[3]

Electoral history

Two-party-preferred vote in Cook, 1996–2022

Election		1996	1998	2001	2004	2007	2010	2013	2016	2019	2022
	Liberal	62.28%	58.94%	64.00%	63.82%	56.57%	62.66%	66.35%	65.39%	69.02%	62.44%
	Labor	37.72%	41.06%	36.00%	36.18%	43.43%	37.34%	33.65%	34.61%	30.98%	37.56%
Government		L/NP	L/NP	L/NP	L/NP	ALP	ALP	L/NP	L/NP	L/NP	ALP

2022 election results

Main article: Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Cook

At the time of the 2022 election, Morrison sat on a majority of 19 percent, making Cook the safest Coalition seat in metropolitan Australia. He retained the seat with a 62.44% two-party-preferred vote and a 6.58% swing against him. He lost 8.17% of his primary vote from 2019. On the other hand, all other parties who contested the election (Labor, Greens, One Nation and United Australian Party) had increases in their primary votes, being 1.89%, 3.09%, 1.61% and 3.27% respectively. Only Labor had a primary vote of more than 10% (24.99%), while the Green's primary vote was just below 10% (9.90%).

Candidates

Candidates are listed in the order they appeared on the ballot.

Party		Candidate	Background
	Libertarian	Vinay Kolhatkar	Author and podcaster. [4]
	Animal Justice	Natasha Brown	[5]
	Independent	Roger Woodward	Accountant and CFA volunteer. [6]
	Greens	Martin Moore	Sutherland Shire Ward A candidate at the 2021 local elections. [7]
	Liberal	Simon Kennedy	Candidate for Bennelong at the 2022 federal election. [8]
	Sustainable Australia	Simone Francis Gagatam	[9]

Liberal

On 4 March, former Bennelong candidate Simon Kennedy won Liberal Party preselection. Other candidates were Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce, Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner Gwen Cherne (endorsed by former prime minister John Howard) and former United Australia Party candidate Benjamin Britton. ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Simon Kennedy	158	53.37	+53.37
	Liberal	Carmelo Pesce	90	30.40	+30.40
	Liberal	Gwen Cherne	35	11.82	+11.82
	Liberal	Benjamin Britton	13	4.39	+4.39
Total formal votes			296	100.0

Labor

On 22 March, the Labor Party announced they would not run a candidate in the by-election. This was the first time since the 2015 North Sydney by-election that they had not contested a federal by-election. ^[11]

Results

On 16 April 2024 the Australian Electoral Commission declared Simon Kennedy officially elected as the new member for Cook. ^[12]

2024 Cook by-election ^{[13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Simon Kennedy	53,799	62.67	+7.14
	Greens	Martin Moore	14,120	16.45	+6.55
	Animal Justice	Natasha Brown	5,841	6.80	+6.80
	Libertarian	Vinay Kolhatkar	5,117	5.96	+5.96
	Independent	Roger Woodward	4,920	5.73	+5.73
	Sustainable Australia	Simone Gagatam	2,054	2.39	+2.39
Total formal votes			85,851	93.24	−2.36
Informal votes			6,225	6.76	+2.36
Turnout			92,076	82.28	−10.99
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Liberal	Simon Kennedy	61,169	71.25	+8.81
	Greens	Martin Moore	24,682	28.75	+28.75
	Liberal hold

Opinion polling

Date	Firm	Sample size	Margin of error	Primary vote							2CP vote
				LIB	GRN	LBT	AJP	SAP	IND	Unsure	LIB	GRN
28 March 2024	uComms [a]	914	± 3.6%	45.4%	12.4%	3.2%	5.4%	3.1%	6.1%	24.4%	65%	35%

See also

• List of Australian federal by-elections
• Electoral results for the Division of Cook

Notes

1. Sponsored by the Australia Institute

References

1. Sakaal, Paul; Massola, James; Thompson, Angus (23 January 2024). "Scott Morrison to resign from politics" . Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024.
2. Coorey, Phillip (23 January 2024). "Scott Morrison calls time on politics, sets up another byelection" . Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024.
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Cook". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
4. "Cook By-Election". libertarians.org.au. Docklands Victoria. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
5. Trembath, Murray (3 April 2024). "Cook byelection candidate Natasha Brown seeks to give animals 'political voice'" . theleader.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
6. Trembath, Murray (22 March 2024). "Labor 'no show' as six candidates line up for Cook byelection" . theleader.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
7. Rix, Ethan (13 April 2024). "Cook by-election candidate Simon Kennedy says locals are 'comfortable' living near nuclear reactors". abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024. The Australian Greens have put up Martin Moore, who has a Fine Arts Degree with a Masters in Social Ecology and ran for the local seat of Miranda at the 2023 NSW election.
8. Karp, Paul; Remeikis, Amy (4 March 2024). "Liberals pick management consultant Simon Kennedy for Cook byelection". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
9. Raue, Ben (23 January 2024). "Cook by-election, 2024". tallyroom.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024. Simone Francis Gagatam (Sustainable Australia)
10. Dole, Nick (4 March 2024). "Simon Kennedy wins preselection for Liberals in seat of Cook following Scott Morrison's resignation". ABC News. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024.
11. "Labor will not select a candidate in Cook by-election". Sky News Australia . 22 March 2024. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024 – via MSN.
12. AEC [@AusElectoralCom] (16 April 2024). "The Cook federal by-election result has officially been declared this morning with Simon Kennedy (LIB) officially elected" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024– via Twitter.
13. "Cook, NSW". AEC Tally Room. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
14. Green, Antony. "Cook By-election 2024 Results". abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 13 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.