Cook – Australia 2025

LIB 11.7%

Incumbent MP
Simon Kennedy, since 2024.

• Geography
• Redistribution
• History
• Candidates
• Assessment
• 2022 results
• Booth breakdown
• Results maps

Geography
Southern Sydney, Cook covers eastern parts of the Sutherland Shire and a small part of the Bayside council area. Suburbs in Sutherland include Cronulla, Grays Point, Kareela, Kirrawee, Oyster Bay Sylvania, Miranda, Gymea, Caringbah and Taren Point. Cook also covers Dolls Point, Sans Souci and Sandringham on the north shore of the Georges River.

Redistribution
Cook contracted on the north side of the Georges River and expanded west in the Sutherland Shire. Cook lost Monterey and Ramsgate Beach to Kingsford Smith, and also lost Beverley Park, Blakehurst, Carss Park, Kogarah Bay and Kyle Bay to Banks. Cook then gained Grays Point, Kareela, Kirrawee, Oyster Bay and parts of Jannali from Hughes. These changes cut the Liberal margin from 12.4% to 11.7%.

History
Cook was first created for the 1969 election. The suburbs around the current seat of Cook were first included in the seat of Illawarra from federation until the 1922 election, when it was transferred to Werriwa, when Werriwa was a large rural seat covering areas south of Sydney. The seat of Hughes was created in 1955, which was the first seat based in Sutherland. Cook was then created in 1969. This used the same name as an earlier seat based in inner Sydney, which had been a safe Labor seat before its abolition in 1955.

For the previous sixty years the seat covering Sutherland had been mostly held by the Labor Party, although Hughes was lost to Liberal candidate Don Dobie in 1966, and Cook has been held by the Liberals for most of its existence.

Dobie transferred to Cook in 1969, but was defeated by Labor’s Ray Thorburn in 1972. Thorburn was defeated by Dobie in 1975 and Dobie held the seat until his retirement in 1996.

Dobie was succeeded by Stephen Mutch, a member of the NSW upper house, in 1996, and Mutch was defeated for preselection by Bruce Baird in 1998. Baird had previously been a state MP and Minister for Transport from 1988 to 1995, as well as taking charge of Sydney’s Olympic big up to 1993.

Baird held the seat for nine years, during which time he developed a reputation as an independent-minded Liberal backbencher who was occasionally critical of the Howard government.

Baird announced his retirement at the 2007 election, and the Liberal preselection was originally won by Michael Towke. Towke’s preselection was overturned amid allegations of branch stacking in a controversial contest, and he was replaced by the former director of the NSW Liberal Party, Scott Morrison.

Morrison won the seat in 2007, and was re-elected five times. Morrison served as a senior minister in the coalition government from 2013 until he became Prime Minister in 2018. He then led the government to victory at the 2019 election.

Morrison continued to serve as Prime Minister until his government’s defeat the 2022 federal election, and went on to retire from parliament in 2024.

Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy won the 2024 by-election.

Candidates

• Simon Earle (Labor)
• Natalie Fuller (Family First)
• Simon Kennedy (Liberal)

Assessment
Cook is a safe Liberal seat.

2022 result

2022 two-party-preferred result

2024 by-election result

2024 by-election two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into five parts named after key suburbs. All of the booths in the St George area have been grouped as “Sans Souci”. Those in the Sutherland Shire have been split between Sylvania in the north, Cronulla in the east, Gymea-Miranda in the south-west and Caringbah in the centre.

The Liberal Party won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all five areas at the 2022 election, ranging from 58.4% in Gymea-Miranda to 65.6% in Caringbah.

The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 6.6% in Sylvania to 13.2% in Cronulla.

The Liberal Party also won a clear majority of the two-candidate-preferred vote (against the Greens) at the 2024 by-election, ranging from 67.6% in Cronulla to 74.5% in Sylvania.

2022 booth breakdown

2024 by-election booth breakdown

Election results in Cook at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal Party, Labor and the Greens.

Election results at the 2024 Cook by-election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Liberal Party vs Greens) and primary votes for the Liberal Party and the Greens.

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