Federal election 2025: Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson targeted by Labor as PM spruiks $130k donation drive

Labor will pour an additional $130,000 to campaign in Peter Dutton’s own electorate of Dickson, after new internal research found the Brisbane electorate is “closer than originally thought”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made no secret of his offensive plan to pick up seats in Queensland, where Labor holds just five of the state’s 30 seats, and said it was “no accident” his first official stop on the election campaign was in the Opposition Leader’s backyard.

Mr Dutton’s seat, which takes in working-class, middle-class and semi-rural outer northern Brisbane suburbs, is the most marginal in Queensland on a slim 1.7 per cent. Mr Dutton won by just 3363 votes in 2022.

A week after he popped into a Dickson gym and urgent care clinic, Mr Albanese used a rallying cry to Queensland party faithful at the weekend to vow “I will be back” and hail three-time candidate Ali France.

“You will not only have the people of Dickson cheering you on, people all across the nation will be barracking and pitching in for you,” Mr Albanese told Ms France to raucous cheers.

In an email to voters from national secretary Paul Erickson, seen by The Nightly, he said the overnight research found “thousands of Dickson voters are now on the fence”.

“It’s not just that Peter Dutton is absent. It’s not just that he fled to Sydney during the cyclone,” the email said, referring to Mr Dutton’s ill-timed fundraiser event as his electorate was bunkering down for Cyclone Alfred.

“They have serious concerns about the cuts he will make to pay for his $600b nuclear scheme. We know our message is working, it’s already shifting votes.”

Asking for donations to cover an expanded push, Mr Erickson’s email says with enough help “we can amplify our campaign… and dump Dutton from Dickson once and for all”.

Labor believes Mr Dutton’s decision to leave his electorate ahead of ex-cyclone Alfred to fly to Sydney for a fundraiser, has cost him.

Focus groups, run by the party, have discovered said voters also have “serious concerns” about the cuts he will make to pay for his nuclear scheme. Repeated concerns about the since-dumped work from home policy also cut through with voters in the seat.

Ms France told The Nightly it was a “massive challenge” to take on Mr Dutton, but “I wouldn’t have put my hand up to run again if I didn’t think I could win”.

“I am working incredibly hard every hour of every day, talking to the people of Dickson about the things that matter to them,” she said.

Mr Dutton’s seat is also under contest from “maroon” community independent Ellie Smith, who is backed by Climate 200.

LNP insiders insist they aren’t worried about the seat, but Ms Smith believes that’s not true - pointing to a decision to rip down a billboard prominently showing Mr Dutton’s image in favour of an attack on the independent candidate.

“Is LNP polling telling them something we don’t know about?” she wrote in an email blast at the weekend.

The most recent polling from YouGov indicates the Coalition will retain Dickson under the two-party preferred vote 52.5 per cent to Labor’s 47.5 per cent.

The Coalition’s primary vote is projected to be 39.7 per cent compared to Labor’s 28.8 per cent, with independents at 7.8 per cent.

Queensland political scientist Paul Williams told The Nightly last month it would be unlikely for Mr Dutton to lose his seat.

“Him being Opposition Leader, that comes with a lot of prestige. And it’s very rare for a leader to lose his seat,” he said.

“The tide is out against Labor so it’s the perfect seat for him, he may well push it out into fairly safe seat territory this time around, extend the margin out to 6.5 per cent.”

Mr Dutton has previously acknowledged that this election, like every other, will be a “tough fight”.

“I’ve never taken the people of Dickson for granted. It’s always been a marginal seat, and I’ve worked hard every single day to deliver for our community,” he told The Nightly last month.