Anthony Albanese has announced Ali France as the Labor Party’s challenger for the next federal election against opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Ms France will contest the marginal seat of Dickson against Mr Dutton, her third attempt in the constituency which covers Brisbane’s northern outskirts.
In a close election campaign in 2022, Mr Dutton defeated Ms France, receiving 51.7 percent of the vote after the preference vote.
He has held the seat since 2001, but victory in the constituency is often hotly contested, and the LNP holds it by a margin of 1.7 percent.
Speaking in Brisbane on Friday, the Prime Minister said Ms France was “tough” and “tough” and the right person to beat Mr Dutton.
“We have the right candidates,” he said.
“The opportunism of the Greens and the reactionary policies of the LNP are the things we will fight against here in Queensland.”
Mr Albanese has now announced three candidates to run against the LNP and the Greens in Queensland.
Rowan Holzberger will face the LNP’s Bert van Manen for the Forde electorate, which covers the southern suburbs of Brisbane and parts of the Gold Coast.
Rebecca Hack will field Green MP Elizabeth Watson-Brown as her candidate for Ryan’s seat after the Greens won the seat for the first time in the 2022 election.
“Rowan Holzberger will be a dynamic member for Forde,” Mr Albanese said on Thursday.
“He is someone who, if he gets the same momentum in the 2022 election as he did last time, will cause a huge cheer here in Forde on election night, because in the last election in Forde we had a lead of 4.4 percent.
“And one of the things that happened at the last election here in Queensland is that we reduced contests with very little chance of success to marginal constituencies. One of them is Forde.”
There is speculation that Albanese could call early elections this year.
On Friday, Mr Albanese said he would return to Queensland next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to announce more candidates.
“What we did here in Queensland was reduce margins that were in double digits in constituencies like Flynn to winnable seats,” he said.
“If we can build the same momentum as we did here last time, we will have an excellent result and win more seats for Labour.”