Former McKinsey consultant to succeed Scott Morrison in Cook

Management consultant Simon Kennedy will replace former prime minister Scott Morrison as the next Liberal Party candidate for the prized seat of Cook in southern Sydney.

He beat local mayor Carmelo Pesce by 158 to 90 votes in the final round of voting on Monday night. Other candidates Gwen Cherne and Ben Britton came in third and fourth place with 35 and 13 votes each.

Simon Kennedy, left, and Carmelo Pesce were frontrunners to replace former prime minister Scott Morrison.Credit: James Alcock, Louise Kennerley

Labor is unlikely to contest the seat because the Liberal Party holds the seat with a margin of 12.5 per cent.

This clears the way for Kennedy to enter parliament within months after voters in the seat, which takes in suburbs such as Cronulla, go to the polls to elect a new MP to replace Morrison, who first won the seat in 2007.

Kennedy, who does not live in Cook, is a former partner at major management consultant McKinsey where he co-founded the company’s Australian public sector arm. He ran unsuccessfully as the party’s candidate for the seat of Bennelong at the last federal election.

Morrison did not endorse a successor, though he has previously praised Pesce and called him the “real deal”. Pesce had the support of the majority of the party’s moderate faction, including NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, who is also the state member for Cronulla.

Pesce is a councillor on the Sutherland Shire Council where he is serving his second stint as mayor.

The Bentley-driving businessman runs a shopfitting, glazing and home renovation business, a series of companies that control rental properties, and is the proprietor of a chain of cafes.

Kennedy, who attracted scrutiny for his opposition to vaccine mandates during the pandemic, won endorsements from Liberal conservatives including Tony Abbott, Angus Taylor and former premier Dominic Perrottet, as well as some prominent moderates.

In the late stages of the hard-fought preselection contest, Pesce’s supporters mobilised to create voting tickets that placed Kennedy last. Videos had been circulating of Kennedy linking himself to former NSW treasurer Matt Kean, whose pro-renewables stance has angered Liberal right-wingers.

Former prime minister John Howard endorsed another local, Cherne, who joined the party in 2022 and serves as the national Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner.

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