Allison Anne "Ali" France (pron. "AYY-lee";

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Lawlor; born 13 May 1973) is an Australian politician who has served as the member for Dickson in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

since 2025 as a member of the Labor Party (ALP). France previously contested her seat in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, both times losing to the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition (Australia), Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party from 2 ...

. She unseated Peter Dutton, the then

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

, on her third attempt in the

2025 Australian federal election The 2025 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 3 May 2025, to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia. All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives were up for election, along with 40 ...

, becoming the first Labor MP from Dickson since

Cheryl Kernot Cheryl Zena Kernot (née Paton, formerly Young; born 5 December 1948) is an Australian politician, academic, and political activist. She was a member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland for the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 199 ...

lost the seat to Dutton in 2001. She became the first challenger to defeat a sitting Opposition Leader in their own seat.

Early life and education

France is the daughter of

Peter Lawlor Peter Lawlor (born 1 March 1948) is an Australian former politician. He was the Labor Member for Southport in the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He served as Queensland Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading. Prior to his term in state parli ...

, former MP for

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

in the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

. She was born in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, South Africa and educated on the Gold Coast,

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

and

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. She is an alumni of the

University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland is a public research university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, the sixth largest city in the Australian state of Queensland Founded in 1967 after a successful campaign by the local Darling Down ...

where she studied Journalism and Politics.

Career

Prior to entering politics, France was a journalist at ''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

'', as well as in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and worked as communications manager for indigenous production company Carbon Media in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. She is also a former para-athlete and a disability advocate. A disability rights advocate who campaigned for France, Elly Desmarchelier, has been quoted as stating that "All policy is disability policy" In 2016, France represented Australia in

paracanoeing Paracanoe is canoeing for athletes with a range of physical disabilities. The Paralympic version of the sport is governed by the International Canoe Federation (ICF), and a va'a-specific variant is governed by the International Va'a Federation (IV ...

, winning two team gold medals and a silver at the Outrigger Canoe World Sprint Championships. France has been a critic of offshore detention, noting that the surgeon who inserted her titanium rod prosthetic leg was a former Iraqi refugee who came to Australia by boat. She ran as the Labor candidate for the seat of Dickson in 2019 and 2022, losing both times to

, who was first elected as the MP for Dickson in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. She faced Dutton, then Leader of the Liberal Party and

, for a third time at the

, this time defeating him on a swing of 7.7 percent after all preferences were distributed; she needed a swing of only 1.8 percent to take the seat off Dutton. France is the third challenger since Federation to defeat a major-party leader in their own seat, and the first to unseat an Opposition Leader.

Personal life

France and her ex-husband Clive had two sons. The two separated in 2017 and divorce was finalised in 2019. Clive was plagued by health issues for almost a decade and died of cancer in 2023. In 2011, France and her younger son were at a shopping centre when an elderly man lost control of his car and ran into them. While she pushed her son, who was at the time in his pram out of the way, she was seriously injured and as a result had her leg amputated. In 2024, her eldest son died of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

. France faced some criticism on social media for talking about her grief and loss during the election campaign. She responded by saying, "Politics is personal, actually ... my whole life is the reason I got into politics. I will never stop talking about him and I don't care whether it causes people to feel discomfort."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:France, Ali 1973 births Living people Australian amputees Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Dickson Women members of the Australian House of Representatives Politicians from Durban Paracanoeists Australian MPs 2025–2028