Division of Cook

This article is about the current federal electorate. For the previous electorate, see Division of Cook (1906–1955). For the Queensland state electorate, see Electoral district of Cook.

The Division of Cook is an Australian electoral division in the State of New South Wales.

Cook Australian House of Representatives Division
From the 2016 federal election to 2025 From the 2025 federal election Interactive map of electorate boundaries
Created	1969; 56 years ago (1969)
MP	Simon Kennedy
Party	Liberal
Namesake	James Cook Joseph Cook
Electors	118,924 (2025)
Area	67 km2 (25.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan
Electorates around Cook: Banks Barton Kingsford Smith Hughes Cook Tasman Sea Hughes Hughes Tasman Sea
Footnotes
[1]

History

James Cook, the original namesake of the division

Joseph Cook, the other namesake of the division since 2024

Cook was created in 1969, mostly out of the Liberal-leaning areas of neighbouring Hughes. It was thus a natural choice for that seat's one-term Liberal member, Don Dobie, to transfer after the creation of Cook erased his majority in Hughes. The division was originally named in honour of James Cook, who mapped the east coast of Australia in 1770. In 2006, the Australian Electoral Commission's Redistribution Committee for New South Wales proposed that the division be jointly named for Joseph Cook, Prime Minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914, but this did not eventuate at the time.^[2] In 2024, the namesake was finally altered to be joint between both men, to give recognition to Joseph Cook and have a division named after him like other former Prime Ministers.^[3]

For most of the first quarter-century of its existence, Cook was a marginal to fairly safe Liberal seat; it has been in Liberal hands for all but two terms. The Liberal majority ballooned with the party's national landslide victory at the 1996 general election, and since then Cook has been a "blue ribbon" safe seat for the Liberal Party. As of the 2019 federal election, it is the safest metropolitan Coalition seat, with a 19-point swing needed for Labor to win it.

The most prominent members were Dobie, who held the seat from its 1969 creation until his retirement in 1996 (with a brief break from 1972 to 1975); Bruce Baird, a former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of New South Wales before his move into Federal politics; and Scott Morrison MP, former Prime Minister of Australia 2018–2022.

In 2007, following news of Baird's impending retirement, the seat attracted significant media attention, thanks to the controversial preselection of Liberal candidate Michael Towke. Allegations surfaced to the effect that Towke had engaged in branch-stacking and had embellished his curriculum vitae;^[4] although these allegations were subsequently proven false,^[5] the damage was done. In August 2007, Towke was disendorsed as the Liberal candidate and was replaced with Morrison, a former director of the New South Wales Liberal Party.^[6] Morrison won the seat at the election.

Boundaries

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.^[7]

The division is located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, including Beverley Park, Burraneer, Caringbah, Caringbah South, Carss Park, Cronulla, Dolans Bay, Dolls Point, Greenhills Beach, Gymea Bay, Kangaroo Point, Kogarah Bay, Kurnell, Kyle Bay, Lilli Pilli, Miranda, Monterey, Port Hacking, Ramsgate, Ramsgate Beach, Sandringham, Sans Souci, Sylvania Waters, Taren Point, Woolooware, and Yowie Bay; as well as parts of Blakehurst, Connells Point, Gymea, Kogarah, and Sylvania.

Members

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Don Dobie (1927–1996)	Liberal	25 October 1969 – 2 December 1972	Previously held the Division of Hughes. Lost seat
		Ray Thorburn (1930–1986)	Labor	2 December 1972 – 13 December 1975	Lost seat
		Don Dobie (1927–1996)	Liberal	13 December 1975 – 29 January 1996	Retired
		Stephen Mutch (1956–)		2 March 1996 – 31 August 1998	Previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Lost preselection and retired
		Bruce Baird (1942–)		3 October 1998 – 17 October 2007	Previously held the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Northcott. Retired
		Scott Morrison (1968–)		24 November 2007 – 28 February 2024	Served as minister under Abbott and Turnbull. Served as Prime Minister from 2018 to 2022. Resigned to retire from politics
		Simon Kennedy (1982–)		13 April 2024 - present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Cook

2025 Australian federal election: Cook^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Simon Kennedy	51,121	48.06	−5.66
	Labor	Simon Earle	33,474	31.47	+7.46
	Greens	Martin Moore	10,575	9.94	+0.50
	One Nation	Mark Preston	4,638	4.36	−0.06
	Family First	Natalie Fuller	3,310	3.11	+3.11
	Trumpet of Patriots	Sharon Hammond	3,246	3.05	+3.05
Total formal votes			106,364	95.47	−0.45
Informal votes			5,044	4.53	+0.45
Turnout			111,408	93.68	+1.79
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Simon Kennedy	60,834	57.19	−4.43
	Labor	Simon Earle	45,530	42.81	+4.43
	Liberal hold		Swing	−4.43

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Cook.[edit]

Results are not final. Last updated on 24 May 2025 at 1:00 AM AEST.

2024 Cook by-election^[10][11]

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

This section is an excerpt from 2024 Cook by-election § Results.[edit]

On 16 April 2024 the Australian Electoral Commission declared Simon Kennedy officially elected as the new member for Cook.^[9]

2022 Australian federal election: Cook^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Scott Morrison	54,322	55.53	−8.17
	Labor	Simon Earle	24,444	24.99	+1.89
	Greens	Catherine Dyson	9,685	9.90	+3.09
	One Nation	Gaye Cameron	4,985	5.10	+1.61
	United Australia	Jacqueline Guinane	4,381	4.48	+3.27
Total formal votes			97,817	95.60	+1.73
Informal votes			4,498	4.40	−1.73
Turnout			102,315	92.83	−0.82
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Scott Morrison	61,080	62.44	−6.58
	Labor	Simon Earle	36,737	37.56	+6.58
	Liberal hold		Swing	−6.58

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in New South Wales § Cook.[edit]

Alluvial diagram for preference flows in the seat of Cook in the 2022 federal election. The winning candidate got over 50% of first preference votes, so this alluvial diagram is indicative only, and preference flows were not used to determine the final result. The preference flows were used to determine the two-candidate-preferred.