By Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Disability advocate Ali France pulled off a shock defeat of Australia’s opposition leader Peter Dutton in his own seat on Saturday at the third time of asking, just over a year after losing her son to leukaemia.
Her win was part of a comprehensive federal election victory by the incumbent Labor Party over Dutton’s conservative Liberals.
France, a former journalist, communications professional and para-athlete, lost her leg in a car accident in 2011, sparking an interest in protecting the public healthcare system, her official biography says.
She had contested the seat of Dickson, held by Dutton for 24 years, on two previous occasions. She had also spent 18 months in the period since the 2022 election caring for her son Henry, who died of leukaemia at the age of 19 early last year.
“Life’s bittersweet, isn’t it?” she told Sky News on Saturday after her victory. “It is a series of highs and lows.”
“We discussed it a lot, and I thought I wouldn’t be running because I would be caring for him. And he would say to me, ‘No, Mum, you have to do this. I know you’re going to win this time’. And I feel he’s been with me on this journey.”
Preliminary data from the Australian Electoral Commission on Saturday showed a swing to Labor of around 8 percentage points in the seat, easily ousting Dutton, who had held the seat in the northern state of Queensland with a margin of 1.7 percentage points in 2022.
“Ali and I have been combatants for a number of elections now, but she was successful in Dickson tonight and she will do a good job as a local member,” Dutton said at a party event in Brisbane.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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