Simon Kennedy hits ground running, aiming to 'win voters one by one'

He met commuters at train stations, visited business owners in shopping centres and he and his family moved into the electorate.

Labor has not announced whether it will run a candidate in the byelection on April 13. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Cook was not a seat Labor was expected to win.

Mr Morrison, who also moved to the shire when he was preselected for the 2007 election, rejected criticism Mr Kennedy was an outsider.

"What matters is the skills and talents and abilities that you bring," he said.

Simon Earle, the Labor candidate in 2022 tweeted, "What is it with the local Libs and blow-ins?"

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Mr Kennedy, his wife Nila and their children,Taj, 8, and Kaia, 6, moved from Maroubra into a rental property at Woolooware, in the Caringbah Road area.

"We thought the people of Cook would expect it and we thought it important to show them we were taking it very seriously representing them locally," he said.

Mr Kennedy met his wife, a US born infectious diseases doctor now working at Prince of Wales Hospital, while he was working overseas.

He said moving to Cook, rather than re-contesting Bennelong, which covers the Epping area where he grew up and which he failed to win at the 2022 election, was "a family decision".

"Nila is relatively new to Australia. She lived in a coastal area, close to the water at Berkeley in San Francisco. We have got a young family and we started talking about the appeal of living in a beautiful community like this.

"Unlike Bennelong, where I decided I was going to do it hell or high water, I came down here and started meeting local branch members and asked their advice and got encouragement."

He said previous associations with the shire were regular bodyboarding at Shark Island and "working a couple shifts" at Northies hotel as security officer while he was university.

Mr Kennedy said he won voters in the preselection "one by one" by calling all 300 and meeting those who wanted to, and he would continue this personal approach in the byelection.

He said the knowledge, skills and experience he has acquired during 20 years as a consultant working with major businesses and governments in Australia and overseas could be applied at a local political level.

"The job of management consultant, and I think the job of a politician, is to listen," he said.

"Before you try and solve someone's problem, whether it's cost of living or the shire's lack of parking or congested roads, the first thing is you have to understand it."

Mr Kennedy said these were among the biggest concerns he had heard during preselection and talking to residents and business owners in the days since.

"The owner of a coffee shop at Gymea told me he was 30 per cent down on takings because people are struggling," he said.

"Another small business owner said she has had to return to teaching, while a Caringbah man told me his electricity bills have gone up 30 per cent."

"I think we have to hold the Albanese government to account. Voters were promised $275 off their energy bill and people are saying they want clean [energy] but they also want cheap and reliable, and they are only being listened to on one of those three."

Mr Kennedy said he would also act on local issues, such as the lack of parking in the shire and congested roads, and "take it up with the council or state government".

Mr Kennedy said, while Cook was often defined as a shire electorate, "one-third is now the other side of the bridge and the boundaries could be extended to include more".

"I want to make sure I am spending enough time in that community as well," he said.

"The electorate is two areas, with two football teams, the Sharks and Dragons and I want to look after both."

Mr Kennedy is a Bulldogs supporter, and says he cheered for former players Mick Ennis and Ben Barba when they helped the Sharks to a premiership in 2016.

"NRL is one of my passions," he said. "My son and I go to a lot of games and do our tips each week."

Born in Ryde, Mr Kennedy grew up with his extended family when his father "returned to America when I was two".

"I was very close to my grandparents," he said. "My granddad, who was retired, was my primary carer while my mum worked. He grew up during WWl, worked through the Depression and enlisted in WWll. My grandmother was an Army nurse.

"My granddad taught me a lot of things, from school work to family values and about service. He was president of Epping Rotary and served the community in other ways.

Mr Kennedy's mother and stepfather were both teachers at Epping Boys High, which he attended. He became school captain and SRC president, "which gave me a taste of leadership".

He studied commerce - law at the University of NSW and during that time worked at Clayton Utz as a paralegal and, after graduating and law school, joined the firm.

"I had also done a summer with [global management consulting firm] McKinsey & Co," he said.

"I found McKinsey threw you into client situations with management teams, giving them advice. It was very practical. I enjoyed working with business people on their problems."

He joined McKinsey, became a partner and worked in Washington DC and New York for half of his 15 years with the firm, along with a year in impoverished Haiti after an earthquake.

Mr Kennedy is now a partner in consulting firm Banksia Growth.

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Liberal Party preselection winner in Cook, Simon Kennedy begins the task of trying to shake off the tag of being an outsider when he and his family move into Sutherland Shire today.

Mr Kennedy, his wife Nila and their children,Taj, 8, and Kaia, 6, have packed up their home at Maroubra and are moving into a rental property at Woolooware, in the Caringbah Road area.

"The whole place is in boxes," he said on Thursday. "The movers come at 7am and we will be unpacking all weekend."

Mr Kennedy said they looked at a couple of places before the preselection and had the Woolooware property organised in the event of him winning, so they could move in straight away.

"We thought the people of Cook would expect it and we thought it important to show them we were taking it very seriously representing them locally and I don't think you can do that not living in the area," he said.

Mr Kennedy met his wife, a US born infectious diseases doctor, while he was working overseas.

He said seeking to win the seat of Cook, rather than for him to re-contest Bennelong, which he failed to win at the 2022 election, was "a family decision".

"It wasn't a decision I made unilaterally," he said. "My wife and I were talking about it with our kids, where we want to live and what kind of community.

"We found this one and we think our values are represented in this community and we are excited to be here.

"When Scott announced his retirement, it was something my wife and I started talking about.

"She is relatively new to Australia. She lived in a coastal area, close to the water at Berkeley in San Francisco.

"We have got a young family and we started talking about the appeal of living in a beautiful community like this and it was very appealing to us as a family.

"We had an ongoing conversation about that. She got excited and I got excited about it.

"We came down here spent some time here and started meeting some of the locals, some of the branch members.

"Unlike Bennelong, where I decided I was going to do it hell or high water, I came down here and started meeting local branch members and asked their advice and got encouragement.

"That and the discussion my wife and my kids had was the reason I decided to do it."

Mr Kennedy grew up in the Epping area and moved to Maroubra in 2001 to be closer to the University of NSW, where he studied.

He bought a small unit in 2005 and kept it when he went to the US to work.

"When we came back to Australia, Nila got a job at the University of NSW, so we anchored in Maroubra," he said.