Liberals hold Scott Morrison’s old seat of Cook

Management consultant and Liberal member Simon Kennedy will be the newest federal member of parliament for the prized electorate vacated by former prime minister Scott Morrison, who farewelled voters yesterday as people headed to the polls.

The safe Liberal margin in the electorate of Cook and lack of a Labor candidate meant Kennedy claimed almost 63 per cent of the primary vote. With more than 86,000 votes counted at 9pm on Saturday, there was a 6.5 per cent swing to the Liberals.

Liberal Simon Kennedy claimed almost 63 per cent of the primary vote in COok on Saturday.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman joined Kennedy in handing out how-to-vote cards on Saturday morning, describing Simon Kennedy as “very energetic candidate” who would be a great asset to the federal party.

“He really hit the ground running from day one. I suspect that scared off prospective Teals and Labor. They saw he was not going to take it for granted,” Speakman said.

Kennedy contested the north-western Sydney electorate of Bennelong in the 2022 election, but lost to Labor MP Jerome Laxale. He moved to the southern Sydney electorate of Cook from Maroubra in the city’s eastern suburbs shortly after winning the Liberal preselection in March, and Speakman conceded some voters wouldn’t appreciate having an outsider.

“Some people will resent that, but I get the impression that he immersed himself in the local community pretty quickly,” he said.

But Kennedy brushed aside suggestions that his selection as the Liberal candidate in the Cook byelection was a turn-off to some voters.

“I’ve been out there listening – listening to people and I think that’s what people want,” he said at a polling booth at Burraneer Bay Public School. “They want their local MP to listen to them and advocate hard.”

Kennedy said cost-of-living pressures were high on voters’ list of concerns, and the Albanese government was not listening to people.

“People aren’t happy,” he said. “People feel like the country’s going in the wrong direction.

“They are worried about the cost of living. Energy prices they’re worried about.”

Morrison, who also handed out how-to-vote cards on Saturday, said Kennedy would do a “terrific job” in federal parliament.

“It’s been a great pleasure to serve the shire and southern Sydney for so long. But I can tell you, if you support Simon today, you’re putting our electorate of Cook in very, very safe hands,” Morrison said in a video posted to social media.

In January, Morrison announced he would leave politics for the corporate world, and used his final speech in parliament in February to extol Western values and religion and warn of the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party.

Morrison retained the seat in the 2022 election with a safe 12.4 per cent margin, and Labor decided not to contest the byelection, which meant Kennedy faced five minor party and independent opponents, including representatives from the Greens and the Animal Justice Party.

Kennedy declined to comment on Labor’s decision not to run a candidate, but said he was focused on showing all voters “that I’ll work my guts out to listen to them and work for them”.

“I’ve been out there listening – listening to people and I think that’s what people want,” he said. “They want their local MP to listen to them and advocate hard.”

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s poll, Kennedy said he was focused on getting to the heart of the pressures – cost of living or otherwise – in the electorate.

“For me, the focus right now is on Cook and the people of Cook and understanding their issues,” he said, listing road congestion, restoring the water quality at Gymea Bay baths, and changing the availability of MRI machines at St George hospital.

Alice Tiller said she planned to vote for the Greens candidate when she could take a break from selling cakes and slices at Burraneer Bay’s cake stall.

Describing herself as “a bit of a swing voter”, Tiller said she was surprised and disappointed that Labor did not contest the byelection.

Asked if she would have voted for a Labor candidate, she said: “Yes, I would have as the first choice.”

Greg Rhodes supported Kennedy on the basis of his family values, but would have contemplated voting for Labor if it had run a candidate.

Rhodes said local issues such as traffic congestion, population growth and overdevelopment were important issues to him.

Rhodes said the former prime minister came across as a decent bloke, but he was not sure if he would vote for him. “I think it’s a shame that guys that seem to do well in their local area, when they go into federal politics, all of a sudden they appear to look like nuff nuffs,” he said.

Ben Williams voted for independent candidate Roger Woodward but would have voted differently had there been the option to vote Labor.

Williams said having kids had changed the issues that he regarded as important. “I’m traditionally a Liberal voter, however I’ve changed my perspective in the last couple of years,” he said. “I definitely came into this looking for a Labor candidate and not seeing one there did change my priorities.”

Williams said his move away from the Liberal party was also influenced by his low regard for the former Cook MP and prime minister.

“I don’t have a high opinion of Scott Morrison,” he said. “I think his decisions in some of the crises over the past number of years were poor ones and it definitely influenced my opinion of the party as a whole.”

Declan Hitchcock voted for the Greens but was critical of Labor’s failure to run a candidate.

“I think it’s a bit pathetic not to put anyone up,” he said. “They could have given me $10 and a six pack of Fireball and I would have run.”

“Obviously it’s very Liberal but I don’t know how they can expect any change if they don’t provide any opportunity for it to happen.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.