| Cook Queensland—Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||
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 Electoral map of Cook 2017 | |||||||||||||||
| State | Queensland | ||||||||||||||
| MP | David Kempton | ||||||||||||||
| Party | Liberal National | ||||||||||||||
| Namesake | James Cook | ||||||||||||||
| Electors | 33,912 (2020) | ||||||||||||||
| Area | 196,836 km2 (75,998.8 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||
| Demographic | Remote | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 13°34′S143°28′E / 13.567°S 143.467°E /-13.567; 143.467 | ||||||||||||||
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Cook is an electoral district inQueensland, Australia.
Cook covers the vastCape York Peninsula north ofCairns, including the resort town ofPort Douglas and theTorres Strait Islands. It is named after British navigatorJames Cook,[1] who charted the coast and landed onPossession Island – one of the Torres Strait islands – in 1770.
In the1883 election, there were four candidates for the (then) two-member electorate. They were:
Cooper and Hamilton were elected,[2] but there were allegations of "ballot stuffing", specifically that there were too many votes cast at the California Gully and Halpin's Creek polling stations given the number of electors. The unsuccessful candidates, Campbell and Hill, petitioned to overturn the ballot.[3] In December 1883, arrests were made in connection with the ballot stuffing.[4] On 4 March 1884, the Elections and Qualifications Committee determined that Frederick Cooper should not be elected and that Thomas Campbell should be elected instead.[5]
On 4 August 1885, Thomas Campbell resigned after having been declared insolvent.[6] Charles Lumley Hill won the resulting by-election on 16 September 1885.[7]
At the1888 election, Cook returned to being a single-member electorate. Of the two sitting members, Hamilton contested the seat but Hill did not, saying that he was retiring from politics. However, Hill did not retire, but instead contested the election inPort Curtis, but he was unsuccessful. Hamilton was elected in Cook.[8][9][10]
| First incarnation (1876–1878, 1 member) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Party | Term | |
| William Edward Murphy | Unaligned | 1876–1878 | |
| Second incarnation (1878–1888, 2 members) | |||
| Member | Party | Term | |
| John Walsh | Unaligned | 1878–1883 | |
| Frederick Cooper | Unaligned | 1878–1884 | |
| John Hamilton | Ministerialist | 1883–1888 | |
| Thomas Campbell | Unaligned | 1884–1885 | |
| Charles Lumley Hill | Unaligned | 1885–1888 | |
| Third incarnation (1888–present, 1 member) | |||
| Member | Party | Term | |
| John Hamilton | Ministerialist | 1888–1904 | |
| John Hargreaves | Ministerialist | 1904–1907 | |
| Henry Douglas | Ministerialist / Opposition / Independent Opposition / Ministerialist / Liberal | 1907–1915 | |
| Henry Ryan | Labor | 1915–1929 | |
| James Kenny | Country and Progressive National | 1929–1935 | |
| Harold Collins | Labor | 1935–1950 | |
| Carlisle Wordsworth | Country | 1950–1953 | |
| Bunny Adair | Labor | 1953–1957 | |
| Queensland Labor | 1957–1963 | ||
| Independent | 1963–1969 | ||
| Bill Wood | Labor | 1969–1972 | |
| Edwin Wallis-Smith | Labor | 1972–1974 | |
| Eric Deeral | National | 1974–1977 | |
| Bob Scott | Labor | 1977–1989 | |
| Steve Bredhauer | Labor | 1989–2004 | |
| Jason O'Brien | Labor | 2004–2012 | |
| David Kempton | Liberal National | 2012–2015 | |
| Billy Gordon | Labor | 2015 | |
| Independent | 2015–2017 | ||
| Cynthia Lui | Labor | 2017–2024 | |
| David Kempton | Liberal National | 2024–present | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Cynthia Lui | 8,744 | 33.34 | −6.68 | |
| Liberal National | David Kempton | 8,728 | 33.28 | +9.18 | |
| Katter's Australian | Duane Amos | 5,158 | 19.67 | +2.45 | |
| One Nation | Peter Campion | 1,832 | 6.98 | +0.35 | |
| Greens | Troy Miller | 1,765 | 6.73 | +1.69 | |
| Total formal votes | 26,227 | 95.72 | +0.03 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,172 | 4.28 | −0.03 | ||
| Turnout | 27,399 | 74.88 | −4.91 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Liberal National | David Kempton | 14,419 | 54.98 | +11.24 | |
| Labor | Cynthia Lui | 11,808 | 45.02 | −11.24 | |
| Liberal Nationalgain fromLabor | Swing | +11.24 | |||