Cameron Robert Dick (born 1 January 1967) is an Australian politician and member of the Labor Party currently serving as the 51st

Treasurer of Queensland The Treasurer of Queensland is the title held by the Cabinet minister who is responsible for the Queensland Treasury, and by extension, all financial matters of the Queensland Government. List of Queensland treasurers See also *Politics of ...

. He previously served as Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning and was Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services in the Palaszczuk Ministry. He also served as

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, Minister for Education and Minister for Industrial Relations in the

Bligh government Anna Bligh was sworn in as Premier of Queensland on 13 September 2007 with her first ministry, replacing Peter Beattie, who had retired from politics, and his ministry. She subsequently won the 2009 state election with a reduced majority against ...

. He is currently a member of 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 ...

representing the seat of Woodridge.

Early life and education

Dick's family arrived in Queensland from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1862 aboard the sailing ship ''Conway''. His father, a veteran of the Second World War serving in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(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 Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

and attended a local primary school, Marshall Road State School. Dick was educated at the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, ...

, formerly known as the Church of England Grammar School. He studied at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, 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.Member Biography
. Queensland Parliament. Retrieved on 27 February 2012. After undertaking articles of clerkship at Brisbane law firm Goss Downey Carne, he was admitted as a solicitor of the

Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland. It was formerly the Brisbane Supreme Court, in the colony of Queensland. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court allows its trial division to he ...

and the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

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 Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

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''

of the Pacific Island nation of

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.

Political career

Dick was elected as the Member for Greenslopes in the Queensland Parliament at the

2009 Queensland state election The 2009 Queensland state election was held on 21 March 2009 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National ...

. Queensland Premier

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is a lobbyist and former Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2 ...

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 at the 2012 state election. He gained a new seat, Woodridge, at the 2015 state election, and did so with the largest two-party preferred vote (75.95 per cent) of any party in any electorate of Queensland. On 16 February 2015, Dick was sworn in as Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services in the Palaszczuk Ministry. On 12 December 2017, Dick was sworn in as Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning in the second Palaszczuk Ministry. Alongside Queensland Premier

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...

and representatives from the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

, including then Prime Minister

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...

, Dick was part of the announcement on 14 March 2018 that

Rheinmetall Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange. History Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel L ...

Defence Australia would be awarded the $5 billion LAND 400 contract to build and service up to 5000 military vehicles in Queensland. Regarding the decision, Dick called the "landmark project" an "economic game-changer" that will create "450 advanced manufacturing and engineering jobs for Queenslanders" and "pump $1 billion into the state’s economy" in its first ten years of operation. Following this, Rheinmetall selected

Redbank Redbank may refer to: Places ;In Australia *Redbank, Queensland, a suburb in Ipswich *Redbank, Victoria *Redbanks, South Australia ;In the United States *Redbank Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania *Redbank Township, Clarion County, Pennsylv ...

, near

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

, as the location for its $170 million Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE). The first sod was turned at the facility 16 November 2018, with reference made to Queensland as "Australia's khaki state". Dick was in attendance to press the launch button for Australia's first commercial payload rocket flight on 21 November 2018. The five-metre rocket was developed by Queensland-based BlackSky Aerospace and successfully launched into the sky from a farm in Tarawara, west of

Goondiwindi Goondiwindi () is a rural town and locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , Goondiwindi had a population of 6,355 people. Geography Goondiwindi is on the MacInt ...

. Dick said that the launch – which saw the rocket reach roughly the same height as

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

– showed the possibilities for developing a space industry in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. He added that the state wanted to promote its

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

capabilities to national and international markets, and that this launch was a substantial step forward in achieving that aim. In May 2020, Dick replaced

Jackie Trad Jacklyn Anne Trad (born 25 April 1972) is a former Australian politician. She was Deputy Premier of Queensland from 2015 to 2020, Treasurer of Queensland from 2017 to 2020 and represented the Electoral district of South Brisbane for the Labor P ...

as Queensland Treasurer.

Personal life

Dick is married and has two sons, Jonathan and Samuel Dick. He is the brother of Milton Dick, a member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

for

Oxley Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia ** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...

, Speaker of the House of Representatives and former

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisd ...

Labor leader.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dick, Cameron 1967 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Labor Right politicians Attorneys-General of Queensland Treasurers of Queensland Australian barristers Australian solicitors Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge University of Queensland alumni People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School Australian people of Scottish descent 21st-century Australian politicians