Cook – Queensland 2024

ALP 6.3%

Incumbent MP
Cynthia Lui, since 2017.

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 was 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.

Jason O’Brien was re-elected in 2006 and 2009. In 2012, O’Brien was defeated by LNP candidate David Kempton.

Kempton lost in 2015 to Labor candidate Billy Gordon. After he was elected, accusations surfaced against Gordon about previous criminal offences committed in the 1980s, as well as accusations of domestic violence. These offences had not been disclosed to his party, and Gordon was expelled from the Labor caucus over the issue. Gordon sat on the crossbench as an independent for the remainder of his term.

Gordon retired in 2017, and Labor’s Cynthia Lui won the seat. Lui was re-elected in 2020.

Candidates

Assessment
Cook is a reasonably safe Labor seat.

2020 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Cynthia Lui Labor 10,363 40.0 -0.1
Ed (Nipper) Brown Liberal National 6,241 24.1 +6.4
Tanika Parker Katter’s Australian Party 4,458 17.2 +0.2
Brett (Beaver) Neal One Nation 1,717 6.6 -11.8
Deby Ruddell Greens 1,306 5.0 -1.7
Yodie Batzke Independent 1,000 3.9 +3.9
Desmond Tayley North Queensland First 624 2.4 +2.4
Stephen Goulmy United Australia 184 0.7 +0.7
Informal 1,167 4.3

2020 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Cynthia Lui Labor 14,567 56.3
Ed (Nipper) Brown Liberal National 11,326 43.7

Booth breakdown

Booths in Cook have been divided into three areas. Polling places in Port Douglas have been grouped together, and the remaining booths have been split into north and south.

Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in two out of three areas, with 55.3% in the Port Douglas area and 74.7% in the north of the seat. The LNP polled 61.5% in the south.

Voter group KAP prim % ALP 2PP % Total votes % of votes
North 12.4 74.7 3,787 14.6
Port Douglas 13.4 55.3 2,240 8.7
South 26.5 38.5 1,790 6.9
Pre-poll 20.2 48.9 13,336 51.5
Other votes 11.0 69.4 4,740 18.3

Election results in Cook at the 2020 Queensland state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal National Party and Katter’s Australian Party.

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91 COMMENTS

  1. @Scart Labor won’t be winning Maryborough and I doubt they’ll win Mulgrave. Labor will likely only hold two seats outside Brisbane: Gladstone and Ipswich.

  2. I doubt the electorate would hold grudges towards someone who was an ex-Newman Government MP.

    Plenty of MPs from defeated governments have successfully made comebacks. For example, Labor MPs who lost their seats in 2012 but regained them in 2015 include: Cameron Dick, Grace Grace and Di Farmer. Some Federal Labor MPs who lost in 2013 following the Rudd-Gillard era regained their seats in 2016.

    Regarding the Voice results, this is a federal issue. There were indigenous communities that were supportive of Warren Entsch (LNP) but also voted Yes to the voice e.g. Hope Vale and a few others in Cape York. I sense that they may swing away due to Entsch’s retirement and possibly due to the Voice defeat.

  3. @start I think the only seat that they can hold is Gladstone. While they have double digit margins elsewhere after the by elections I don’t think that will save them.

  4. Cook’s too close to call imo. I think Lui seems popular and it’s not a seat with a history of voting LNP. I also think Kempton’s selection was poor.

    I can see the LNP winning seats much higher on the pendulum from Labor but not winning Cook.

  5. I think it’s time to vote Independent! Both ALP and LNP have done nothing for the High Cost of Living in the Cook Electorate over 4 decades since I was born! We are neglected and South East Queensland gets the big $$$ for development and our health is suffering in the far north!!!

  6. Betting has opened for Cook, and it’s the only electorate market so far where Labor are the favourite. Lui is $1.36 to retain, Kempton $2.88.

  7. Odds are pretty short for Labor considering the seat margin is a single digit and statewide Labor is slated for a wipeout. I’m not familiar with FNQ. Does Lui have a strong personal vote there?

  8. Yes, but also the LNP picking a Newman era MP will hurt them here. LNP can still win but it will prob knock 1-2% off the swing than a Generic LNP candidate with no ties to Newman.

  9. @Votante yes especially up in the Torres Strait and the tip of Cape York since she’s a local Torres Strait Islander.

  10. Labor held up well in remote indigenous-majority seats like Arafura, Arnhem, Gwoja at the NT Election.
    However, most shockingly, Daly (43.2% indigenous) went very well for Labor.
    Seems like Labor, in line with sportsbet odds (now it is 1.4 for Labor and 3.2 for LNP), is on track to actually retain Cook (34.3% indigenous).
    I am looking like an absolute idiot for betting $30 on LNP winning Cook (when it was on 2.88)!!!

  11. @ Leon,
    It will be good if someone can do a table with indigenous % and Swing to CLP that way we can do some analysis?

  12. @Nimalan I’ll have a look at some booths when they come in. Remember that there are heaps of mobile booths and Aboriginal communities in the Territory swing around the place, so one might swing +10% to the CLP and the other might swing +10% to Labor. They tend to heavily favour voting for people from their local language group.

  13. Tennant Creek is majority Aboriginal. However, last time there was no election day booth there (but there was this time). There was, however, an early voting centre, and there was at this election too. Here’s how the CLP TPP and swing there and at the election day booth:

    Tennant Creek: 66.7%
    Tennant Creek EVC: 55.7% (+12.5%)

  14. Looking at how well Labor held up in NT bush seats, I’m beginning to doubt that the LNP will win Cook as well. But it will be very close. I expect larger swings in Port Douglas and Mareeba, and smaller swings in rural communities.

  15. @Caleb it should go like this:

    1. LNP (↑)
    2. Labor (↓)
    3. KAP (?)
    4. One Nation (↓)
    5. Greens (?)

    TPP:
    1. LNP (↑)
    2. Labor (↓)

    LNP GAIN from Labor.

    If Labor are going to retain any regional seat bar Gladstone, then it’ll be this. This isn’t actually an Indigenous-majority seat, but a lot of Indigenous people do live here so the swing MIGHT be less, just based on the NT results. But, no two Indigenous communities are fully alike and remember turnout in remote Aboriginal communities in the Territory dropped and while there were swings to Labor in Labor seats in Barkly and Namatjira (CLP seats) there was a swing to the CLP even in Aboriginal communities.

  16. If kap make the 2cp they should be able to topple Labor the right parties totalled 51% of the primary last time but the lnp only managed 43% tpp so there was some leakage to get Labor over the line. Obviously some people vote kap>labbut then give preferences to lab over libs so ud think if it’s lab v kap the katters would get the edge especially if the right vote can increase as the lnp and onp vote would solidify behind kap stronger then onp and kap do behind libs

  17. A KAP win would be beneficial in the long run for the LNP as this seat generally votes Labor and the lnp vote is concentrated in the more southern parts. Which would over time be transferred out due to redistribution. A KAP mp would be able to hold the seat longer and I suspect the lnp would only hold for a single term or maybe two again as they have never help it longer in its entire history as is generally Labor held for long periods. But a KAP mp would likely hold it as the tend to draw votes from both lnp and Labor and would benefit from lnp preferences

  18. 3cp
    LAB 46.66%
    LIB 30.02%
    KAP 23.32%

    Katters probably won’t break the 2cp this time around.They would need to shed 7% without the lnp gaining any. This will likely be lnp vs lab and could be close

  19. With Katter announcing they’re preferencing LNP, it definitely changes things, and shifts at least a couple percentage points from ALP to LNP.

  20. If KAP finish second they’ll win and if the LNP finish first or second they’ll probably win if KAP voters decide to follow the HTV card. I’m pretty sure they have two HTV cards in one where one preferences the LNP (closer social and agrarian policies) and the other preferences Labor (closer economic policies).

  21. At bad elections this seat tends to be won by the lnp.. maybe with some on the tablelands in the seat this could be slightly better for the lnp…. but I think alp retain. Kap have a much better chance in Mirani

  22. I don’t think kap can make the 2cp just yet here. I think if they can help the lnp here though. The redistribution will probably guarantee the lnp lose it in 2028. I’m willing to wager Mirani is abolished after redistribution mick. And the lnp won’t need it to win govt this time around

  23. I’d say this is line ball between Labor and LNP. KAP will finish third.

    Because of demographic and economic differences between here and the rest of regional QLD, it won’t swing as much to the LNP as seats further south. In 2012, the swing to LNP was 5.7%. This was when KAP made its debut. ONP has finished second in the past – 2017, 2001, 1998. When KAP or ONP perform strongly, the LNP suffers bigger primary vote swings than Labor does.

  24. Is Katter preferencing LNP across the board or just in the Townsville Seats?
    I think it may be the latter.

  25. Interestingly in 2022 because Warren Entsch did so well in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parts of Leichhardt, so this would be an LNP seat on federal figures.

    Port Douglas and Weipa will definitely vote LNP so that could push the LNP over the line here.

    This seat is 55.3% non-Indigenous and 34.3% Indigenous, so it’s the most Indigenous seat in Queensland.

  26. On federal results the LNP got 50.9% of the TPP/TCP here against Labor/KAP. While the vast majority of this seat is in Leichhardt which is LNP vs Labor, a small portion of this seat (i.e around Mareeba and Biboohra) is located in Kennedy which is KAP vs LNP.

    Interestingly the only reason the LNP would’ve won this on federal results last time was because of Warren Entsch’s personal vote in the Indigenous communities north of Cairns. While Weipa, Port Douglas, Cooktown and the surrounding coastal rural towns are normally good for the LNP and Mareeba and Biboohra are normally good for KAP, the Torres Strait Islands and the Aboriginal communities of the Cape are traditionally good for Labor. However, in 2022 there was a massive swing to the LNP in these communities (a mix of both a growing trend towards the LNP among Indigenous Queenslanders and also largely from donkey voting which is also why the Socialist Alliance vote was so high in the remote towns up there) which reached up to +32.6% in Pormpuraaw, +30.7% in Kowanyama and +30.0% at Remote Mobile Team 5.

    As always, this does not include postals as there is no way to tell where they’re from. However, it does include the PPVCs in Cooktown, Mareeba, Port Douglas, Thursday Island and Weipa as well as all six remote mobile booths.

  27. @ Nether Portal
    From the Gregory thread, it maybe interesting to watch how the Aboriginal majority booths such as Hope Vale, Lockhart River, Wujul Wujul etc. A lot of these are seperate LGAs so easy to identify.

  28. KAP stand on abortion will draw the Aboriginal and Torres Straits voters.
    Add Labor preferences and KAP has manufactured a win from nowhere.

  29. @map won’t win this time around it’s alp vlnp but kap a chance in 2028 especially if LNP can remove the current member.

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