Labor’s Dutton-slayer has late son’s backing to run

Before he died from leukaemia in February, Ali France’s teenage son Henry urged his mum not to let his death stop her run against Peter Dutton at the next federal election.

Labor’s candidate for Dickson, Ali France. Picture: Annette Dew

Before he died from leukaemia in February, Ali France’s teenage son Henry urged his mum not to let his death stop her from running against Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at the next federal election.

It’ll be the third time Ms France, a former journalist who lost her leg after being hit by a car in 2011, has taken on Mr Dutton in Dickson, the outer-suburban electorate in Brisbane that’s now Queensland’s most marginal seat.

“We talked about this a lot …(Henry) wanted to be with me for this campaign. He was excited about me running. Obviously I’m incredibly sad that he is not here, but he said to me many times on many different issues, don’t make me the excuse for not doing the important things. And this is so incredibly important,” Ms France said in Dickson on Friday, flanked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he confirmed she had agreed to run again.

Labor candidate Ali France and her son Henry, who she lost to leukaemia in February. At the time, she said she would ‘do anything for more time with my Henry’. Picture: X

Mr Albanese said the repeated campaigns meant Dickson voters knew that Ms France “is a fighter”.

“She’s a para-athlete. She’s someone who’s overcome extraordinary hardship and trauma in her life,” he said.

Ms France was pushing her then four-year-old son Zac in his stroller in a Brisbane carpark in 2011 when an elderly driver ran into them, pinning her under his car. She tried to push her son out of harm’s way, and remarkably, he was left with no serious injuries.

Passers-by lifted the car off Ms France, but she lost her left leg as a result of the accident. She says this event was when she “first became political”.

Just months before Henry died, Ms France’s ex-husband and her sons’ father, Clive France, died of cancer.

Ms France said the Dickson community had given her “so much support, so much strength in so many hard times”.

“(Henry) wanted to be here for this. He also, we had other plans he wanted to do, like go to the Boxing Day test when it’s the Ashes, and I will absolutely do that as well,” Ms France said.

“But I feel really good about running this time. I have put a lot of effort into this community and they’ve given so much to me. I hope that I can give that back by being their representative.”

At the last election in 2022, Ms France reduced Mr Dutton’s margin in Dickson from 4.64 per cent to just 1.7 per cent, representing a two-party preferred swing of nearly 3 per cent to Labor. Dickson is now one of eight LNP-held seats in Queensland on a margin of 6 per cent or less, and are being targeted by Labor as “highly winnable”.

The ALP holds just five of Queensland’s 30 seats. The LNP has 21, the Greens have three, and maverick veteran MP Bob Katter holds Kennedy in northwest Queensland for his Katter’s Australian Party.

Ali France with sons Zac and Henry on election night in 2022. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Mr Albanese will on Saturday formally announce Madonna Jarrett as the returning Labor candidate in the seat of Brisbane, held by first-term Greens MP Stephen Bates on a two-party preferred margin (against the LNP) of 3.73 per cent, after Labor’s lord-mayoral candidate, Tracey Price, decided not to run.

The Prime Minister flagged he would be back in Queensland for three days at the end of next week, to announce more Labor candidates.

“What we did here in Queensland (at the 2022 election) was reduce margins that were double digits, in places like Flynn (in central Queensland), down to winnable seats. In Forde (in Logan, south of Brisbane) we cut it in half.

“In this seat (Dickson), we more than cut it in half, the margin. If we get the same swing we got last time, then we’ll achieve an outstanding result, and we’ll see more seats in the Labor column.”