Meet Ali France, the woman out to slay Peter Dutton at the election

Ali France only has to close her eyes to remember the sickening roar of the car.

France was pushing a stroller containing her son, Zac, through the car park of Brisbane's Highpoint Shopping Plaza in May 2011. The routine trip to the shops nearly killed the woman who, eight years later, is hoping to defeat Peter Dutton, one of Australia's most powerful and divisive politicians.

France is Labor's candidate for the marginal seat of Dickson in Brisbane's northern suburbs. Dutton, the Home Affairs Minister and leader of the Liberal Party's conservative faction, holds the seat on a razor-thin margin of 2 per cent.

On that Wednesday morning in 2011, France was waiting for a lift when an out-of-control car driven by an elderly man screamed in her direction. She tried to push the stroller out of the way but it went under the car, which then slammed into France and pinned her against the front of another vehicle.

When France woke up in intensive care days later with an intubation tube down her throat, the former journalist reached for the hand of husband Clive and scrawled three letters: Z-A-C.

Clive reassured her that four-year-old Zac had escaped mostly unscathed, but France had not. The force of the car severed the femoral artery and she nearly bled to death before the ambulance arrived. Surgeons were forced to hurriedly amputate France's left leg from above the knee.

"I spent many years in hospital and my pathway to politics really began in that hospital," she says. "Waiting for surgeries and appointments, I talked to many, many people about how they were struggling with health expenses and the pressures of the system."

"The whole experience drove a passion to see changes in the way our healthcare system is funded. I am passionate about Medicare - it literally saved my life."

Defeat in Dickson is assured if just few thousand votes shift away from the government. Dutton was so worried about holding the seat that he tried (and failed) to jump ship to a safer one on the Gold Coast in 2009. Operatives on both sides believe Dutton is at serious risk of losing the May election.

Ali France hopes to steal the marginal Brisbane seat off the Liberal Party.Credit: AAP

The Liberal National Party has good reason to be nervous about what may unfold on polling day: at last year's byelection in the neighbouring seat of Longman, the LNP's primary vote plunged to a catastrophic low of 30 per cent.

But Coalition optimists believe Prime Minister Scott Morrison is more popular in Queensland than Malcolm Turnbull and could successfully sandbag the state's marginal seats, including Dickson.

Dutton's botched bid to become prime minister last August achieved the goal of bringing down Turnbull but not the ultimate prize - installing the former policeman as Liberal leader. If the government loses the federal election but Dutton retains his seat, the 48-year-old could challenge to become opposition leader.

"Peter Dutton has held this seat for 18 years and the feedback I get is that people feel ignored, that he is focussed on furthering his own career and own ambitions over the issues that people really care about here," France says.

"But he can't be underestimated, he is a multi-millionaire with unlimited funds and he is spending an enormous amount of money in this electorate."

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaign in Dickson in late January. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has represented the seat since 2001. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Dutton - one of the party's most prolific fundraisers - has boasted of a $650,000 war chest, has carpeted the electorate with menacing billboards attacking Labor's tax policies, boasts one of the slickest Facebook pages in Parliament, and is travelling around in a homely-looking caravan (which parliamentary documents show was refurbished for free by Kedron Caravans).

But Labor is mounting a huge campaign and calls on at least 200 of its 1000 volunteers each week for doorknocking, phone calls and mailouts.

"I had someone on the phone the other day who had always voted Liberal and the first thing he mentioned to me was his son couldn't get a full-time job after being in casual work for years, and the second thing he mentioned was a lack of action on climate change," France says.

France's brother, Phil Lawlor, quit his lucrative career as a corporate lawyer in Dubai to come back to Brisbane and help, and her father, former state Labor minister Peter Lawlor, is also providing advice.

The campaign plans to target health, and hopes voters won't forget Dutton was the minister who included a $7 GP co-payment in Tony Abbott's 2014 budget. Left-wing group GetUp! is also throwing resources at the contest.

A critic of offshore detention, France's link to refugees is deeply personal. Munjed Al Muderis, a refugee who fled Iraq in 1999 after refusing orders to mutilate deserters of Saddam Hussein's army, performed a groundbreaking procedure to insert a titanium rod into her bone to connect a prosthetic. He came to Australia by boat.

Munjed Al Muderis, who came to Australia by boat, gave Ali France the ability to walk.Credit: Tim Bauer

"Telling the story of what happened to me never gets easier but I'm happy to tell it because it explains where I've come from, and how far I have come, in my life," France says.

"I am absolutely stronger than I have ever been. I think if anyone is up for this challenge it's me."