David Kempton, pictured casting his vote in Mareeba on Saturday, has declared victory in Cook for the LNP in a social media post on Monday morning after a swing against Labor and two-term MP Cynthia Lui. Photo: Facebook.
David Crisafulli has become the 41st premier of Queensland as a former MP who served in the state’s last Liberal National Party (LNP) government has declared victory to complete a stunning political comeback and claim Cook for the second time.
When Cape York Weekly went to press, LNP candidate David Kempton held almost 40 per cent of first preference count, with the Electoral Commission of Queensland’s unofficial indicative count projecting he would break two-term MP Cynthia Lui’s grasp on Cook by a margin of ore than 11 per cent.
In a post on his campaign Facebook page on Monday morning, Mr Kempton declared himself “back” and thanked voters for returning him to the seat he lost to the late Billy Gordon nine years ago.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he said in the social media post.
“I promised safe hands, a strong voice and to turn up every time.
“That starts today.
“I am back.”
The current results in Cook have bucked the statewide trend of swings against the minor parties, with One Nation’s Peter Campion receiving 7.35 per cent of primary votes – up from 6.63 per cent in the 2020 state election – and Troy Green securing 7.24 per cent for the Greens, an improvement on the party’s 2020 result of 5.04 per cent.
Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) proved the most successful of the minor parties in the fight for Cook, with candidate Duane Amos holding almost 22 per cent of the primary vote on Monday afternoon.
Mr Amos said although he was disappointed with the result, he was taking some wins from the campaign.
“I achieved my primary goal, which was to unseat the sitting member and turn the seat conservative again,” he said.
“There were so many disgruntled people concerned about key issues in the electorate, but there were distractions during the campaign and I think people dived towards the safety of the major parties.”
While he will now return to policing duties, Mr Amos hinted his name could return to a ballot paper in the next federal election, but he would not speculate whether it would be flying KAP colours or potentially as an independent.
“Let’s wait and see – it’s a watch this space,” he said.
“Leichhardt’s in my line of sight now; lessons were taken out of this, and there were disappointing things that happened that were outside my control.”
Cooktown voter Rick Barnes says he believes Cape York has gone backwards under Labor’s stewardship of Queensland over the past nine years. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
Cooktown voter Rick Barnes said he believed the town and Cape York had failed to progress under Labor leadership over the past nine years.
“I’m a pensioner and just seeing what Labor has done over the last few years is not real bloody impressive, not impressive at all,” he said.
“Just look at the Cape, there’s nothing happening.
“Labor’s just put themselves right out of the picture.”
A Weipa voter, who asked not to be named, said they had voted for Labor in the 2020 state election but had backed KAP on Saturday because they “wanted to see some real change on the Cape”.
“I normally vote for Labor but it feels like they’ve forgotten us up here,” they said.
“I’ve voted for Katter’s this time because I think we need some leadership actually focused on remote spots like Weipa and the western Cape.”
Neither Mr Kempton nor Ms Lui responded to repeated requests for comment from Cape York Weekly before deadline.
A big pre-polling turnout across the state in the lead-up to election day meant the Cooktown polling booth at times looked like a ghost town on Saturday. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
