Cameron Dick

Cameron Robert Dick is an Australian politician and member of the Australian Labor Party. He is the Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services in the Palaszczuk Ministry and a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Woodridge. Previously he was Attorney-General, Minister for Education and Minister for Industrial Relations in the Bligh government representing the electorate of Greenslopes.

Family history and early life

Dick's family arrived in Queensland from Scotland in 1862 aboard the sailing ship Conway. His father, a veteran of the Second World War serving in the Royal Australian Navy (1941–1945), was a butcher and later an owner and operator of taxi cabs. His mother was a nurse.

He grew up in the suburb of Holland Park and attended a local primary school, Marshall Road State School.

He is the brother of former ALP State Secretary Milton Dick, a Labor councillor and the Opposition Leader in the Brisbane City Council.

Education

Dick was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School, formerly known as the Church of England Grammar School. He studied at the University of Queensland, and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws, and later, a Bachelor of Arts. He gained a Master of Law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.^[1]

After undertaking articles of clerkship at Brisbane law firm Goss Downey Carne, he was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia.^[1]

Legal career

Tuvalu

Following practice as a solicitor in Brisbane, Dick worked as an international development volunteer in the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu from 1993 to 1996, under the Australian Volunteers Abroad program operated by the then Overseas Service Bureau (now known as Australian Volunteers International), Australia's oldest international volunteer-sending organisation. Dick assisted in the Office of the Attorney-General during his time in Tuvalu, initially as Crown Counsel and then as the acting Attorney-General of Tuvalu for one year. He is a former ex officio Attorney-General of the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu.^[2]

Queensland

Dick was a solicitor at Crown Law, the Queensland Government’s legal office, and a senior advisor in the Queensland Government, before becoming a barrister in 2006. He practised law prior to his election to the Queensland Parliament.^[3]

Political career

Dick was elected as the Member for Greenslopes in the Queensland Parliament in the 21 March 2009 Queensland state election. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh asked him to serve as the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations. He was sworn in as Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations on 26 March 2009. On 21 February 2011 he was sworn in as Minister for Education and Industrial Relations. He lost his seat in the 2012 state election. He gained a new seat in Woodrige in 2015 state election.

On 16 February 2015, Dick was sworn in as Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services in the Palaszczuk Ministry.^[4]

Personal life

Dick is married and has two sons.

References