Peter Scaysbrook, 59, of Bonnet Bay, will try to wrest the seat from Liberal Scott Morrison, who succeeded Bruce Baird in 2007.

Once considered a blue ribbon Liberal seat, it would change hands with a swing of 6.4 per cent.

Mr Scaysbrook and wife Lyn have two adult children and have lived in the shire for 35 years.

After working in medium to large industry, Mr Scaysbrook ran his own engineering business at Taren Point for several years before selling it to one of his staff in 2004.

He has continued to work as an engineer, but is now looking for new challenges.

"This is the first time I have been a candidate, but I was the campaign director for the local government elections in 2008,'' he said.

"I thought I had probably contributed a lot to industry and derived a lot from it and saw this as a way to put something back and make a contribution to the community.

"The Cook electorate fits pretty much on the cusp of what is winnable.

"We are not overly optimistic but feel we are in with a reasonable chance.''

Mr Scaysbrook said broad national issues of economic management and environmental concerns were important in a seat such as Cook.

Challenges facing young people and the problem of re-employment of men and women over 40, who had lost their jobs, were other concerns.

Mr Scaysbrook is an executive member of the ALP's Como-Jannali branch, Cook federal electorate council and president of the party's local government committee.