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.
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.”
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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.
