Dickson residents reveal why they didn’t support Peter Dutton after lacklustre campaign

Residents in Peter Dutton’s now former seat of Dickson have laid bare why they voted the Opposition Leader out of a seat he had held for more than 20 years.

Pictured is Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton while on the 2025 federal election campaign as it comes to a conclusion at the W Hotel in Brisbane. Picture: Adam Head / NewsWire

Voters in Peter Dutton’s former seat of Dickson are shocked following Saturday night’s historic whitewash, with residents saying they hoped for change but didn’t think it was possible.

Mr Dutton is the first Australian Opposition Leader to lose his seat during a federal election, falling to Labor’s Ali France who received an eight point swing in her third attempt to win the seat.

His ousting from the seat of Dickson comes after The Courier-Mail conducted an exclusive exit poll of 200 early voters on Thursday, that indicated a swing towards Ms France.

Appearing on Sky News on Friday morning, the then-Opposition Leader shrugged off the prospect of losing his seat, saying exit polling was “notoriously inaccurate”.

As Queensland’s most marginal seat heading in, Dickson residents believed the end result could go either way.

As the dust settles, locals have revealed why Mr Dutton was voted out after 24 years serving the electorate.

Dickson electorate residents Gail Adams and Pat MacDonald with Rudy. Picture: Timothy Little

Dickson resident Gail Adams said she was ecstatic to see Ms France win adding she found the negativity and aggressiveness of Mr Dutton’s image ‘un-Australian.’

“I’m ecstatic! – I feel sorry for him but I’m glad someone else now will get a chance,” Ms Adams said.

“I thought she’d (Ali France) maybe just edge over but she’s worked hard over the last nine years, she deserves it.

“I don’t like when a party comes across aggressive – that’s just not on as far as I am concerned.

“It’s un-Australian and I don’t like it.”

Friend and fellow local Pat MacDonald had hoped Ms France would win but expected to see more of a fight from the leader of the opposition.

“I know for myself, it was like I felt as if he just tagged along. If Albo said something he would just say yes, we will put that in place,” Ms MacDonald said.

“I thought he actually lacked energy in the campaign. It felt like he just wasn’t there with it.”

“There were also a few snide comments here and there and I just thought I don’t want to go down that path.”

Kallangur resident Mike Vanacken and his son Jacob at the Murrumba Downs polling booth. Picture: Iwan Jones

Kallangur resident Mike Vanacken described the result in Dickson as “unbelievable” and that he was “happy to see the back of” Mr Dutton.

“It’s unbelievable, I’m surprised by how big a result it was,” he said.

“The polls were pretty confident that Labor would get up, but I don’t think anyone anticipated the LNP getting wiped out.

“I’m just happy to see the back of him, I’m happy just to have him out of politics.”

Mr Vanacken said he is looking forward to having Ali France as a member of parliament.

“I’m interested to see how she goes, she has a hell of a story behind her, a story of resilience,” he said.

“She has gone through a lot of adversity along the way.

“Any person that runs more than once for a seat loses and keeps coming back, they deserve a go eventually, because they’re committed, she’s hung in there for a long time.

“So good for her and I’m looking forward to seeing how she goes.”

71 year old Mental Health worker Ina Perkins from Kallangur after voting in the Federal Election at the Murrumba Downs early voting centre in the seat of Dickson. Picture: Lachie Millard

A former Liberal voter, Kallangur local Ina Perkins said Mr Dutton had “lost touch with his local community”.

“I used to be a Liberal voter, and I voted Labor in the last two elections, because I was just so disillusioned with Liberal and the way they were going,” she said.

“Last election he just won by a small margin, that should have woken him up.

“I thought if that didn’t wake him up, nothing could.

“I just feel like he’s not a people’s person and I think that’s what let him down.”

Ms Perkins said that Ali France will make a fantastic representative for the area.

“Ali France is a really good advocate for all of those in her community,” Ms Perkins said.

“She’s got so much backing behind her here in the community, she will do well.”

Ms Perkins believes the younger population and first-time voters may have had an impact on the outcome of the election.

“Peter Dutton has been in because there’s a lot of elderly here and that’s the reason why he’s been getting in, because they just love him,” she said.

“But, you’ve got young people coming into the area and they want to see progress.

“They want to see a plan for progress and I think with Ali (France) coming in we will certainly see that.”

Micole Chenoweth said Mr Dutton’s attitude towards the public service and previous reputation across the health sector made her decision easy.

“My husband and I are both public workers so when liberals come in they drop a lot of money – liberals really hurt my husband’s career so we didn’t want that to happen again,” Ms Chenoewerh said.

“And nuclear was a huge thing- mainly public service and nuclear.”

Ms Chenoeweth said she had almost lost faith in the weeks leading up to the election, but strong support on Saturday reaffirmed her prediction.

“I don’t know if it was what I was thinking because Dutton has held Dickson for so long but we were hoping Labor to win and for Ali France to get in,” Ms Chenoeweth said.

“When we went to vote and saw how many people were there for Ali we really thought this would be the year.

“I think everybody was pretty over Dutton- the people around here were ready for a change.”

Despite the strong support for Labors newly elected candidate, some residents were left shocked and saddened by Saturday’s results.

Ali France during the election campaign at Albany Creek state High School. Pic Annette Dew

Linda Horstman said she was upset by the result and though Mr Dutton still had more to offer.

“I was expecting not as big of a defeat for Peter Dutton in our seat of Dickson,” Ms Horstman said.

“I still think he has a lot more things to contribute, so it’s very disappointing he has lost both his seat and the election.

“I don’t know much about Ali France so I can’t say. I just don’t know it is going to go.”

Ms Horstman said she was disgusted by the negativity of the campaign.

“It was quite a dirty campaign,” Ms Horstman said.

“I thought the ads on TV, were disgusting the way they crackled his face to make him look like a real monster.

“I just though Labor had a real dirty campaign.”

Ferny Hills resident Sam M said Mr Dutton’s exit is a strong repudiation of the current direction of the LNP.

“They need to eject the noisy right-wing figures, take a look at what Australian values actually are, and create policies to suit,” he said.

“Attempting to fit values to the voter base, rather than actually listen to people – that is exactly how they went wrong.

“Dutton says he values our great nation but he has chosen division and culture wars instead of attempting to formulate a positive conservative position.”

Originally published as Dickson residents reveal why they didn’t support Peter Dutton after lacklustre campaign