Electoral district of Cook

This article is about the state electorate. For the federal electorate, see Division of Cook.

Cook Queensland—Legislative Assembly
300px Cook (2008–)
State	Queensland
MP	Billy Gordon
Party	Independent
Namesake	James Cook
Electors	29,613 (2015)
Area	196,805 km2 (75,986.8 sq mi)
Coordinates

Cook is an electoral district in Queensland, Australia.

Cook covers the vast Cape York Peninsula north of Cairns, including the resort town of Port Douglas and the Torres Strait Islands. It is named after British navigator James Cook, who charted the coast and landed on Possession Island – one of the Torres Strait islands – in 1770.

History

1883 election

In the 1883 election, there were four candidates for the (then) two-member electorate. They were:

• Thomas Campbell
• Frederick Cooper (one of the sitting members)
• John Hamilton
• Charles Lumley Hill (a former member in Gregory)

Cooper and Hamilton were elected, 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. In December 1883, arrests were made in connection with the ballot stuffing. 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.

1884 by-election

On 4 August 1885, Thomas Campbell resigned after having been declared insolvent. Charles Lumley Hill won the resulting by-election on 16 September 1885.

1888 election

At the 1888 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 in Port Curtis, but he was unsuccessful. Hamilton was elected in Cook.

Members for Cook

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 (1888–1950, 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
Fourth incarnation (1953–present, 1 member)
Member		Party	Term
	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–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Cook

Queensland state election, 2015: Cook

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Billy Gordon	10,119	40.41	+7.99
	Liberal National	David Kempton	8,424	33.64	−3.87
	Katter's Australian	Lee Marriott	3,134	12.52	−9.83
	Palmer United	Jason Booth	1,678	6.70	+6.70
	Greens	Daryl Desjardin	1,353	5.40	−0.10
	Independent	Michaelangelo Newie	332	1.33	+1.33
Total formal votes			25,040	98.05	−0.44
Informal votes			497	1.95	+0.44
Turnout			25,537	86.24	−0.03
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Billy Gordon	12,527	56.77	+10.20
	Liberal National	David Kempton	9,540	43.23	−10.20
	Labor gain from Liberal National		Swing	+10.20

External links

• Electorate Profile (Antony Green, ABC)
• — 1931 history of the electorate