Liberals keep Scott Morrison's former seat in Cook by-election

The Liberal Party has retained former prime minister Scott Morrison’s federal seat of Cook in a by-election.

Simon Kennedy kept hold of the safe Liberal seat with a margin of 71.46 per cent, after Labor opted against running a candidate.

Kennedy ran against Greens candidate Martin Moore, who collected 28.54 per cent of the vote and the Animal Justice Party’s Natasha Brown.

Cook has been a safe liberal seat since 1975, so much so that the Labor Party have not put someone up as a candidate in the By-election. Liberal Candidate Simon Kennedy is running against Greens Candidate Martin Moore and the Australian Justice Party’s Natasha Brown.

A planned election-night event was cancelled by the newly elected federal MP following the shocking mass-stabbing in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.

Kennedy holds law and commerce degrees, and later worked at consulting firm McKinsey & Company before running for parliament.

The outgoing Morrison showed up at his local polling booth at Lilli Pilli to support Kennedy’s candidacy.

“It’s been a great pleasure to serve the Shire and southern Sydney for so long. I can tell you if you support Simon today, you’re putting our electorate of Cook in very, very safe hands.”

“He’ll do a terrific job for us locally and as part of our Liberal team, I encourage you all to come out today to vote and support Simon.”

Cook has been a safe liberal seat since 1975, so much so that the Labor Party have not put someone up as a candidate in the By-election. Liberal Candidate Simon Kennedy is running against Greens Candidate Martin Moore and the Australian Justice Party’s Natasha Brown.

Morrison held the seat for 17 years after being elected in 2007.

The former prime minister announced he was retiring from politics in January, triggering a by-election for the Cook electorate.