CYNTHIA Lui will remain as the Member for Cook after a strong victory at the polling booths on Saturday.
Ms Lui’s Labor Party was a dominant force across the state and will remain in power for the next four years.
The LNP and KAP grew their primary vote, but One Nation bombed at the ballot, helping Ms Lui retain her seat.
As expected, the Torres Strait and Cape York Indigenous communities backed the Labor MP for another term.
Ms Lui won the primary vote in Aurukun, Bamaga, Coen, Diwan, Horn Island, Kowanyama, Lockhart River, the Mobile Polling Booths (which cover remote communities in the Cape and Torres Strait), Napranum, Pormpuraaw and Thursday Island.
The only Indigenous communities she did not win were Hope Vale and Wujal Wujal.
KAP candidate Tanika Parker is from Hope Vale and won 52 per cent of the primary vote, while former Wujal Wujal mayor Desmond Tayley won the most primary votes in his community.
A record amount of pre-poll numbers occurred in Cook.
At Weipa, just 272 voted on election day.
Around 1500 people pre-polled, an ECQ official said.
Similar numbers occurred in Mareeba, where 1249 people voted at the town’s two booths on Saturday, compared to 5218 people at the pre-poll station.
URBAN AREAS SPLIT
CYNTHIA Lui will need to do more over the next four years to improve relationships in the electorate’s urban townships.
In Port Douglas, Mossman, Cooktown and Weipa, Ms Lui’s primary vote dropped significantly. Exact figures were not known at the time of press as the major pre-poll votes had not been counted.
However, it appears likely that Ms Lui lost some supporters in those built-up townships.
Mayors had been critical of her performance in her inaugural term of parliament and called for her to spend more time on the ground in communities.
Cape York Weekly revealed last month that she had not been to Weipa, Napranum or Mapoon for more than 400 days.
STATEWIDE COUNT
LABOR was set to hold on to power with a predicted 52 seats out of a possible 93.
The LNP was tipped to win just 34. Katter’s Australian Party retained its three seats, while the Greens gained Jackie Trad’s electorate and now hold two seats in parliament.
One Nation will keep its one seat despite suffering a massive shift against the party.
Noosa’s Sandy Bolton is the only Independent in Queensland.
