Natalie Fleur Cook is an Australian
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
and anti-violence campaigner. She became an anti-violence campaigner
after the death of her son in a
one-punch attack in 2008.
Cook is a
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
member of the
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...
, representing
Hurtle Vale since the
2018 state election. She previously represented
Fisher after winning the
2014 by-election
Fourteen or 14 may refer to:
* 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15
* one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014
Music
* 14th (band), a British electronic music duo
* ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013
*''14'', an unrel ...
,
vacated by the death of independent member
Bob Such
Robert Bruce Such (2 June 194411 October 2014) was a South Australian politician. He was the member for the seat of Fisher in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1989 until his death in 2014. He defeated Labor MP Philip Tyler at the 1 ...
.
Cook was elected with a majority of 0.02%,
a victory margin of nine votes.
She represented the seat until it was abolished in the 2018 election.
Cook has served as the
Minister for Human Services in the
Malinauskas ministry
The Malinauskas ministry is the 74th and current ministry (cabinet) of the Government of South Australia, led by Peter Malinauskas of the South Australian Labor Party. It was formed after Labor's victory at the 2022 state election and succeede ...
since March 2022. Cook was previously the Parliamentary Secretary for Housing and Urban Development from September 2017 until Labor's loss at the 2018 election, after which she was the Shadow Minister for Human Services in the
Labor Opposition.
Anti-violence activism
In 2008 Cook's 17-year-old son Sam Davis was killed in a
one-punch attack at a party.
Soon after Cook and her partner, Neil Davis, founded the Sammy D Foundation, which runs school programs to spread an anti-violence message and provide positive role models to disadvantaged youth.
Cook stood down from the board of the Sammy D Foundation after she was elected to Parliament.
Political career
On 20 October 2014 Cook was pre-selected as the
Labor Party candidate for the seat of
Fisher in the
2014 Fisher by-election,
following the death of incumbent member Bob Such.
Cook won the by-election by nine votes
from a 7.3 percent two-party swing, resulting in the
Weatherill Labor Government changing from
minority to
majority government.
On a 0.02 percent margin it was the most marginal seat in parliament.
A
redistribution of electoral boundaries occurs following each South Australian general election and it was decided in 2016 that the electoral division of Fisher would be abolished.
Its electors were divided between the seats of
Davenport,
Heysen,
Hurtle Vale,
and
Waite,
with Hurtle Vale designated as Fisher's successor by the
South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission
The South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission is an independent, non partisan commission responsible for the compulsory re-drawing of South Australian House of Assembly electoral districts after each South Australian election.
...
.
Cook successfully contested the
2018 general election (when the new boundaries came into effect) in Hurtle Vale, becoming its first representative. Despite Labor losing government, Cook received a swing towards her of 3.6% in
two-party preferred
In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...
terms,
taking 55.3% of the two-party preferred vote.
In 2021, one of Cook's staff was arrested and charged with producing and possessing child exploitation material.
Following Labor's victory at the
2022 election, Cook was appointed as Minister for Human Services in the
Malinauskas ministry
The Malinauskas ministry is the 74th and current ministry (cabinet) of the Government of South Australia, led by Peter Malinauskas of the South Australian Labor Party. It was formed after Labor's victory at the 2022 state election and succeede ...
.
References
External links
*
Parliamentary Profile: SA Labor websiteSammy D Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Nat
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Members of the South Australian House of Assembly
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of South Australia
Labor Left politicians
21st-century Australian politicians
21st-century Australian women politicians
Women members of the South Australian House of Assembly