Labor candidate Ali France’s unusual move to raise funds for fight against Dutton
Labor’s candidate seeking to oust Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton from his Brisbane-based seat has turned to an “anti-Dutton” community 1700km away known to boost her campaign war chest and help her “dump” him.
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LABOR’S candidate seeking to oust Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton from his Brisbane-based seat has turned to left-leaning inner-city Melbourne to boost her campaign war chest.
Candidate Ali France is holding a $120-a-head fundraiser tomorrow night, but rather than seeking support from the local community, she is heading to an upmarket restaurant and bar associated with a luxury, five-star hotel in Melbourne’s CBD.
In a highly unusual move, the fundraiser will be about 1700km south of the electorate of Dickson that Ms France and Mr Dutton will be contesting.
The Division of Melbourne electorate is held by Greens MP Adam Bandt and is a known hotbed of anti-Adani and anti-Dutton sentiment.
Labor defended the move, saying her campaign donations were mostly coming from Queensland and she needed to compete against a cashed-up incumbent in Mr Dutton.
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While Ministers often host fundraisers in other states, it is usually for the benefit of the local or state branch and not their own seat.
Queensland suffered Melbourne’s political influence last year during the Batman by-election, as the Adani mine became a major issue in the green-leaning seat.
Mr Dutton’s future in Dickson is under siege from a variety of outside sources, including a high-profile campaign from activist group GetUp! and several unions.
As well as paying $120 to attend the event, to be held at Wallis and Ed in Bourke St, invitees are also asked to make a further donation when buying tickets. The guest speaker will be Melbourne-based political activist Van Badham.
“(Peter Dutton) won the seat at the ‘Tampa election’ and has held the marginal seat ever since. In 2018, he boasted of having a $650,000 campaign ‘war chest’. Dumping Dutton from Dickson will be a hard-fought campaign and we need your help,” a flyer for the fundraiser stated.
Mr Dutton claimed that Ms France’s interstate funding was required due to anger at the Labor candidate Linda Lavarch losing preselection.
“Linda is a long-time local while Ms France lives out of the electorate close to the city. There is still a lot of anger among local ALP members, so it’s no surprise Ms France has to raise money out of Melbourne,” he said.
Labor rejected that claim, with Labor’s state secretary Julie-Ann Campbell saying it was a grassroots campaign with donations overwhelmingly coming from Queensland.
“Peter Dutton has big business and vested interests bankrolling his campaign and we know they’ll spend big,” she said.
“Ali is the underdog and appreciates the support from everyday Australians.”
Mr Dutton won the seat with a 1.6 per cent margin in 2016, after suffering a 5 per cent swing against him.
A boundary redistribution made it slightly safer, now notionally a 2 per cent margin.
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