Cook – Queensland 2012

ALP 2.2%

Incumbent MP
Jason O’Brien, since 2004.

Geography
Far North Queensland. Cook covers all of Cape York and extends to the northern fringe of Cairns. It includes the towns of Port Douglas, Mossman and Cooktown, as well as all of Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands.

History
A seat by the name of Cook has existed since 1876, except for one term in the 1950s. The seat has been held by the ALP for most of the twentieth century.

The seat was first won by the ALP in 1915, when Henry Ryan won the seat. The Country Party’s James Kenny won the seat in 1929 and held it until 1935. The ALP’s Harold Collins won the seat in 1935. He held it until Cook was abolished at the 1950 election. He moved to the seat of Tablelands, which he held until 1957.

Cook was restored at the 1953 election, when it was won by the ALP’s Bunny Adair. He left the ALP to join the anti-communist Queensland Labor Partyin 1957. He then became an independent in 1963, and held the seat until 1969.

The ALP’s Bill Wood held the seat from 1969 to 1972, followed by Edwin Wallis-Smith, also from the ALP, from 1972 to 1974.

The Country Party’s Eric Deeral won the seat in 1974 and lost it in 1977.

Bob Scott won the seat back for the ALP in 1977 and held it until 1989. Steve Bredhauer held the seat from 1989 to 2004, serving as Minister for Transport from 1998 to 2004. Bredhauer was succeeded in 2004 by his electorate officer Jason O’Brien, who still holds the seat.

Candidates
Sitting Labor MP Jason O’Brien is running for re-election. The LNP is running lawyer David Kempton. Katter’s Australian Party is running Lachlan Bensted. Yodie Batzke is running as an independent. One Nation is running Jim Evan.

Political situation
Cook has a long solid history of voting for the ALP but is very marginal and could easily be lost. The seat should also be a strong area for Bob Katter’s new party.

2009 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Jason O’Brien ALP 10,456 46.0 -4.3
Craig Batchelor LNP 9,629 42.4 +12.7
Neville St John-Wood GRN 1,510 6.7 -0.3
Michaelangelo Newie IND 1,111 4.9 +4.9

2009 two-candidate-preferred result

 

 

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Jason O’Brien ALP 11,217 52.2 -9.2
Craig Batchelor LNP 10,253 47.8 +9.2

Booth breakdown
Booths in Cook have been divided into three areas.

Booths around the towns of Port Douglas and Mareeba have each been grouped together. The remainder of the seat, including all of Cape York, has been grouped as ‘North’.

The ALP polled two thirds of the primary vote in the north of the seat, while a majority of the vote in the two southern areas went to the Liberal National Party.

Polling booths in Cook at the 2009 state election. North in orange, Port Douglas in green, Mareeba in blue. Click to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

Voter group ALP % LNP % GRN % Total votes % of votes
North 66.7 21.1 4.0 7,818 34.4
Mareeba 33.4 59.5 4.5 6,150 27.1
Port Douglas 31.2 54.2 12.5 4,568 20.1
Other votes 42.3 44.3 8.4 4,170 18.4

 

 

 

Labor primary votes in Cook at the 2009 state election.
Liberal National primary votes in Cook at the 2009 state election.
Labor primary votes in southern parts of Cook at the 2009 state election.
Liberal National primary votes in southern parts of Cook at the 2009 state election.
Labor primary votes in the town of Mareeba at the 2009 state election.
Liberal National primary votes in the town of Mareeba at the 2009 state election.

 

 

 

5 COMMENTS

  2. Yodie Batzke (former Family First candidate) is running as an Independent, and Jim Evan is running for One Nation here

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