title: Electoral district of Cook
text: # Electoral district of Cook
  
  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 | Member | Party | Term |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | | William Edward Murphy | Unaligned | 1876–1878 |
  | Second incarnation (1878–1888, 2 members) ||||
  | Member | 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 | 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 |
  | | Bunny Adair | Queensland Labor | 1957–1963 |
  | | Bunny Adair | 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 |
  | | Billy Gordon | Independent | 2015–2017 |
  | | Cynthia Lui | Labor | 2017–present |
  
  ## Election results
  
  2020 Queensland state election: Cook :
  
  | Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | | Labor | Cynthia Lui | 10,363 | 40.02 | −0.08 |
  | | Liberal National | Ed (Nipper) Brown | 6,241 | 24.10 | +6.35 |
  | | Katter's Australian | Tanika Parker | 4,458 | 17.22 | +0.24 |
  | | One Nation | Brett (Beaver) Neal | 1,717 | 6.63 | −11.78 |
  | | Greens | Deby Ruddell | 1,306 | 5.04 | −1.71 |
  | | Independent | Yodie Batzke | 1,000 | 3.86 | +3.86 |
  | | NQ First | Desmond Tayley | 624 | 2.41 | +2.41 |
  | | United Australia | Stephen Goulmy | 184 | 0.71 | +0.71 |
  | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | Total formal votes | 25,893 | 95.69 | −0.04 |
  | Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 1,167 | 4.31 | +0.04 |
  | Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 27,060 | 79.79 | −1.47 |
  | Two-party-preferred result ||||||
  | | Labor | Cynthia Lui | 14,567 | 56.26 | +0.42 |
  | | Liberal National | Ed (Nipper) Brown | 11,326 | 43.74 | +43.74 |
  | | Labor hold | Labor hold | | | |
  