{"id":92977,"date":"2025-05-11T14:51:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T14:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/92977\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T14:51:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T14:51:19","slug":"ali-france-reveals-her-dying-sons-plea-and-the-shocking-claim-that-spurred-her-to-achieve-the-unthinkable-and-oust-opposition-leader-peter-dutton-from-his-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/92977\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali France reveals her dying son’s plea – and the shocking claim that spurred her to achieve the unthinkable and oust Opposition Leader Peter Dutton from his seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ali France<\/a> has revealed the inspiring words her eldest son told her before he died from\u00a0leukaemia at just 19 years old.<\/p>\n

Ms France has suffered many adversities in her life – including a life-threatening crash that resulted in the loss of her leg, the death of her ex-husband and then her teenage son just months later.<\/p>\n

But on May 3 she claimed victory over\u00a0Peter Dutton<\/a> for the Brisbane<\/a> seat of\u00a0Dickson, to oust the Opposition Leader from parliament. It was her third attempt against the man who had been the local MP for 24 years.<\/p>\n

In an interview with 60 Minutes<\/a> on Sunday, the Ms France revealed she almost gave up on politics when her eldest son, Henry, was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2022<\/a>\u00a0while he was completing his HSC.<\/p>\n

‘I said to him, ‘Well, I won’t be running in Dickson again’ \u2026 and he was just so angry about that,’ Ms France recalled.<\/p>\n

‘He said, ‘Do not make me the excuse for you not doing important stuff’. And this is important stuff.’<\/p>\n

Henry and his younger brother Zac, both played integral roles in her election campaigns.<\/p>\n

However, many critics accused Ms France during the recent campaign of trying to use her son’s death to gain leverage against Mr Dutton.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Ali France revealed her teenage son Henry (pictured together) told her not to give up on ‘the\u00a0important stuff’, including her political career, shortly before he died from leukemia<\/p>\n

\"Henry <\/p>\n

Henry (pictured in hospital with Ms France) was diagnosed with leukemia in 2022 and died two years later at age 19.<\/p>\n

‘[People have said] that I’m using my son for political purposes. That I’m disgraceful because I’m talking about him and I’m a candidate in politics,’ Ms France said.<\/p>\n

‘I’ll never stop talking about Henry, never. The day that I stop talking about Henry is the day I join him.’<\/p>\n

Henry had been an avid supporter of the Labor Party and his mother through two federal elections before she finally won her seat a year after his death.<\/p>\n

This time she was assisted by 18-year-old Zac, who often joined her door-knocking and chatting with voters.<\/p>\n

Yet just 14 years ago Ms France came awfully close to losing her youngest.<\/p>\n

She and Zac, then just four years old, were at her local shopping centre when an elderly driver lost control of his car.<\/p>\n

Ms France recalled pushing Zac away just moments before the car pinned her against another parked vehicle.<\/p>\n

Her son escaped injury but her\u00a0femoral artery was severed in the crash.<\/p>\n

The injury was so severe Ms France’s left leg had to be amputated without anaesthetic.<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms France (pictured with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese) ousted Peter Dutton from his seat of 24 years on May 3<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms France (centre) celebrated her victory on election night with her youngest son Zac and father<\/p>\n

‘I didn’t feel any pain. I have a recollection of people standing over me, quite a lot of bright lights and things, but my brain essentially had just shut down,’ Ms France recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After years of physical and mental pain, Ms France challenged people’s perceptions of disabilities by becoming a\u00a0world champion canoeist<\/a> and outspoken advocate.<\/p>\n

Her work in the field eventually led her to politics.<\/p>\n

Ms France was joined by Zac and her father – former state MP Peter Lawlor on election night as she was introduced to the crowd by former Queensland Premier Steven Miles.<\/p>\n

She made history as the first candidate to oust a serving Opposition Leader from their seat.<\/p>\n

Mr Dutton, who held the seat of Dickson for 24 years, congratulated Ms France on the night and wished her luck.<\/p>\n

‘We didn’t do well enough in this campaign, that much is obvious,’ Mr Dutton said during his concession speech.<\/p>\n

‘There are good members and candidates who have lost their seats … and I am sorry for that.’<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms France (pictured) attributes part of her win to her late son and hit back at critics who accused her of using Henry’s death for ‘political purposes’<\/p>\n

\"Ms <\/p>\n

Ms France (pictured with Zac) tried to take the seat of Dickson twice before her 2025 victory<\/p>\n

Although he may not have been there in person to see his mother’s victory, Ms France credits her win to Henry.<\/p>\n

On February 20, the first anniversary of his passing, Ms France shared a touching tribute to her son.<\/p>\n

‘I remind myself of his courage and bravery in the face of insurmountable odds every day. It drives me,’ she wrote.<\/p>\n

‘Rest in peace my baby Henry. So missed, always loved, never forgotten.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ali France has revealed the inspiring words her eldest son told her before he died from\u00a0leukaemia at just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[22422,92,2000,299,36,12,13656],"class_list":{"0":"post-92977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-brisbane","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-peter-dutton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114489765737936043","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}