NSW Liberals preselect Simon Kennedy as by-election candidate for Cook following Scott Morrison’s retirement

NSW Liberals have chosen a candidate to contest the Sydney electorate of former prime minister Scott Morrison.

NSW Liberal Party members have preselected former McKinsey partner Simon Kennedy to contest the safe south Sydney seat formerly held by Scott Morrison.

The seat was put in the running following Mr Morrison’s retirement from politics, with a yet-to-be-announced by-election slated in the coming months.

On Monday night, about 300 members chose Mr Kennedy to run in the by-election after one round of voting.

Mr Kennedy won with 158 votes, beating Sutherland Shire Mayor Carmelo Pesce (90), Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner Gwen Cherne (35) and army veteran Benjamin Britton (13).

Mr Pesce and Mr Kennedy were believed to be the front runners in the preselection battle.

Mr Pesce — who severed as the Sutherland Shire Mayor between 2015 to 2020, and was re-elected in 2022 — was long been touted as Mr Morrison’s successor in the electorate.

Sutherland Shire Mayor Carmelo Pesce was one of two front runners in the preselection for Cook. Picture: Facebook/ Supplied

Simon Kennedy previously ran as a candidate for the federal seat of Bennelong in 2022. Source: Facebook

However, Mr Kennedy – who unsuccessfully ran for the northern Sydney seat of Bennelong in 2022 – was praised by party members for his corporate and consulting experience.

“If someone had asked a month ago, you would’ve struggled to find a single party member who believed anyone other than the mayor would even have a chance of being the candidate,” one senior party member said.

“So the fact that it’s looking close is just an incredible feat of Kennedy.”

However, ahead of the voting, they said Mr Pesce’s popularity with local selectors shouldn’t be underestimated.

“Mr Kennedy’s made significant inroads, but it’s a herculean task to beat the local mayor in a plebiscite preselection of more than 300 locals during an unexpected by-election,” they said.

The federal seat of Cook was vacated after Scott Morrison retired from politics. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

While the Liberal Party has moved quickly to firm up their candidate, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Labor is yet to decide whether they will also be contesting the seat.

“Cook is not a seat that it would be expected that we would win, but we’ll wait and see,” he told ABC Sydney Breakfast on Monday.

“I noticed that the Liberal Party have the opportunity to finally select a woman candidate today for Cook, but we’ll wait and see whether they actually do or whether it’s yet another bloke sitting behind Peter Dutton just saying no to everything.”

Originally published as NSW Liberals preselect Simon Kennedy as by-election candidate for Cook following Scott Morrison’s retirement