‘You’re going to make a great MP’: Dutton’s call to Labor victor Ali France

As it became clear to Labor’s Ali France that she was about to pull off what was once thought impossible – vanquishing a sitting opposition leader – her thoughts were never far away from son Henry.

She lost him, aged 19, to leukemia last year – a fact Peter Dutton referenced in his concession speech on Saturday night.

“I said to Ali that her son, Henry, would be incredibly proud of her tonight,” he said in his last act as opposition leader.

Ali France thanks supporters in Dickson on Sunday morning.Credit: Cameron Atfield

Thanking visitors and supporters beside busy Gympie Road at Strathpine on Sunday morning, just a couple of hundred metres from Dutton’s electoral office, France revealed details of her conversation with Dutton as he conceded Dickson on Saturday night.

“He was lovely,” France said. “He said to me ‘congratulations, you’re going to make a great MP’.

“He said ‘your son, Henry, would be so proud of you’. He said ‘it’s going to be an easy transition – we’ll make things easy for you’, and I congratulated him on his 24 years of serving the Dickson community.”

France said she had little doubt Henry would be proud.

“This is something that Henry and I talked about constantly – he loved that I was doing this,” she said as a tear formed in the corner of her eye.

“When we were talking about it, he just relapsed after a transplant and I didn’t expect to be doing this – I was expecting to be caring for him for at least another few years, and being by his side all the time.

“He kept on saying ‘no, Mum, I will not be the reason you don’t win Dickson … I will not be the reason – don’t ever make me an excuse for not doing important things’.

“So I hope I’ve made him proud, because he made me proud.”

Ali France celebrates with supporters at Strathpine on Sunday.Credit: Cameron Atfield

Leading the Coalition to an election for his first time, Dutton was out of the electorate for much of the campaign, leaving France and new independent candidate Ellie Smith to capitalise.

France, the daughter of former state Labor MP Peter Lawlor, got involved in politics after a life-changing accident in 2011, when she was pinned by an out-of-control car in a Brisbane shopping centre car park.

While she was able to save her son Zac, who was in a stroller, France lost her leg above the knee.

France said she wanted to use her experience of a disability to make a real difference in Canberra.

“It’s such a huge thing having a physical disability in which you can’t manage a lot of door-knocking and stuff like that,” she said.

“It’s very difficult to get preselected, and it’s very, very difficult to get across the line, so I think for the disability community, this is a really significant event that I actually got elected.

“I hope that more people with a disability follow.”

In his victory speech on Saturday night, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese congratulated Labor candidates and asked the audience to “excuse me for singling out one, who ran for the third time in Dickson: Ali France”.

That prompted chants of “Ali, Ali, Ali”.

Her newfound Labor hero status did not sit well with France, who said the real credit went to the army of party volunteers.

“I actually see all the grassroots campaigners as the heroes,” she said on Sunday.

“There are so many people who you know have been coming out, as I said last night.

“There were people in that room [at France’s election watch party] who have been campaigning for 24 years and never skipped a beat – always supported all of the candidates, not just me.

“They’re the real heroes of the Labor Party. I want everyone to always know that people running in unwinnable seats are the heroes of the Labor Party.”

While Dickson was Labor’s most symbolic gain, the party also picked up Bonner (through candidate Kara Cook), Longman (Rhiannyn Douglas), Petrie (Emma Comer) and Forde (Rowan Holzberger) from the LNP, as well as Brisbane (Madonna Jarrett) and Griffith (Renee Coffey) from the Greens.

Labor (Matt Smith) picked up the Far North Queensland seat of Leichhardt after the retirement of long-term member Warren Entsch.

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