Missing in action as Cyclone Alfred turned tide on Peter Dutton

As Cyclone Alfred barrelled towards his electorate of Dickson, Peter Dutton flew to Sydney for a ritzy harbourside political fundraiser.

Labor MP-elect for Dickson Ali France hit the streets of Strathpine to thank volunteers and local voters who helped her defeat Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Annette Dew/NewsWire

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As Cyclone Alfred barrelled ­towards his seat of Dickson in March and Peter Dutton flew to Sydney for a political fundraiser at the harbourside home of billionaire Justin Hemmes, his Labor ­opponent Ali France kept at it.

Running against Dutton for the third election in a row, the dis­ability advocate and former journalist knocked on doors, filled sandbags, and warned her neighbours in the outer-suburban Brisbane electorate to prepare for the storm. Not long after Dutton flew back into Brisbane the next day, the news of his interstate jaunt broke, fuelling accusations he was “filling money bags” instead of sandbags.

The damage had been done. Dutton’s hard-fought reputation as a dedicated local member had been dented.

According to one senior Labor campaigner, the moment was a turning point in the battle for Dickson, which ultimately led to France defying the odds on Saturday night and deposing a federal opposition leader from their own seat for the first time.

“Dutton’s always been a good marginal seat campaigner but this time, he had to balance being the opposition leader with fighting to hold his marginal seat,” the ALP campaigner said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton concedes defeat on election night. Picture: Adam Head

The former police officer won the seat in 2001 and was re-elected seven times; when Kevin Rudd swept to power in 2007, Dutton managed to cling on by just 217 votes. At the 2022 election, France managed to whittle down Dutton’s margin to just 1.7 per cent – the narrowest in Queensland – with a swing of nearly 3 per cent ­towards her at that poll.

Even with that margin, all but the most optimistic of Labor insiders feared Dickson was still unwinnable. But strategists say by this campaign, voters in Dickson knew France. She’d been knocking on doors since before her first tilt at the 2019 poll, and had honed ­hyperlocal policies.

Dutton had promised to fix an unpopular road – the Dohles Rocks Road Interchange on and off ramps – back in 2007, but nothing had been done. France could tell voters she’d advocated for the Albanese government to finally deliver the funding.

France – whose father is former state Labor MP Peter Lawlor – lost her leg in 2011, after an elderly driver lost control of his car and mowed into her and her then four-year-old son, Zac. She endured seven surgeries in four years, spent two years in a wheelchair, and suffered severe PTSD.

She says the accident and her recovery made her political, and inspired her to advocate for friends who had to wait six months for a prosthetic leg.

New member for Dickson Ali France on Sunday after the election. Picture: Lachie Millard

During this campaign, France’s reduced mobility meant she ­rationed her time doorknocking to 90 minutes each morning and afternoon, and pinpointed voters who were new to the electorate, who may not have met her in ­earlier campaigns. She says ­Dickson is home to thousands of public servants, who were ­spooked by the Coalition’s promise to cut the federal bureaucracy and cancel work-from-home ­arrangements.

Her union, the United Workers Union led by Queensland party powerbroker Gary Bullock, targeted voters with a dedicated call centre for Dickson, and the Electrical Trades Union ran a “hi-vis” local campaign, with volunteers and corflutes branded with “Put Dutton last. It’s where he puts you”.

Queensland Labor leader Steven Miles, whose safe seat of Murrumba shares territory with Dickson, also spent time on the hustings with France, as did a succession of federal Labor frontbenchers, including Anthony Albanese, who book-ended his campaign with Dickson visits.

On April 10, Labor national secretary Paul Erickson made the unusual decision to email branch members telling them internal polling showed the party was close to unseating Dutton, and he wanted to spend an extra $130,000 on France’s efforts.

The opposition leader dismissed it as a “PR stunt” but the email worked, generating a significant bump in donations from across the country.

The extra cash went straight into the Dickson campaign, doubling Labor’s ad budget in the seat.

Erickson’s polling showed Climate 200-backed independent Ellie Smith was sitting on a ­primary vote of 11 per cent.

But Smith’s decision to hand out how-to-vote cards that only asked voters to put her first and did not direct other preferences meant her influence on the final result was unpredictable.

Early on Saturday night, as the tally in Dickson showed an enormous 8 per cent swing to France, Labor strategists cautioned it was “too early to tell” if Labor had pulled off the unthinkable. In the end, Smith secured nearly 13 per cent of the primary vote, taking most of it from the Greens.

Ali France and her son Henry, who died in February 2024 from leukaemia. Source: X

On Sunday, still stunned by the result, France said she had decided after her second election loss in 2022 that she would not run for Dickson again.

Her eldest son, Henry, had suffered a cancer relapse after a transplant, and she decided she wanted to be by his side.

“He said to me ‘no mum, you’re going to win it this time’ and he was furious at me for even thinking that.

“It’s hard to impress teenage boys at any time in their lives. But this was something he was happy about. And he just said to me at the time, ‘don’t make me the excuse for not doing important things’.”

Henry died from leukaemia in February last year, and France says the community in Dickson rallied around her, mowing her grass and delivering meals.

“I feel like he was with me every single day (of the campaign), and I think I’ve made him proud,” she said.

“At times it’s felt just so incredibly hard. But I’ve always thought of his courage and determination and happiness in the face of insurmountable pain.”