| The Honourable Cameron Dick MP |
|
|---|---|
| Queensland Attorney General | |
| In office 25 March 2009 – 21 February 2011 |
|
| Premier | Anna Bligh |
| Preceded by | Kerry Shine |
| Succeeded by | Paul Lucas |
| Queensland Minister for Education | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 21 February 2011 |
|
| Premier | Anna Bligh |
| Preceded by | Geoff Wilson |
| Queensland Minister for Industrial Relations | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 25 March 2009 |
|
| Premier | Anna Bligh |
| Preceded by | John Mickel |
| Member of the Queensland Parliament for Greenslopes | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2009 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Australian Labor Party |
The Honourable Cameron Robert Dick MP is the Minister for Education and Industrial Relations for the Australian state of Queensland. He is an Australian Labor Party member of the Queensland Parliament, representating the state electorate of Greenslopes in the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He was first elected to the seat in the 2009 Queensland State Election, which was held on 21 March 2009.
Dick's family arrived in Queensland from Scotland in 1862 aboard the sailing ship Conway. His family’s roots on the southside of Brisbane stretch back the best part of 60 years. Dick's father, a veteran of the Second World War (Royal Australian Navy 1941-1945) was a butcher and later an owner and operator of taxi cabs, and his mother was a nurse. Dick's parents were married at St Matthew's Memorial Anglican Church, Holland Park, and they purchased their first home in that suburb in the early 1960s. Dick's great-grandmother lived at Douglas Street, Greenslopes.[2]
Dick grew up in the suburb of Holland Park, one of the southern Brisbane suburbs that form part of the state electorate of Greenslopes. He attended a local primary school, Marshall Road State School, which is one of the 16 state and non-state schools in the Greenslopes electorate. In 2010, Marshall Road State School celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Dick attended secondary school at the Church of England Grammar School (now the Anglican Church Grammar School). Following secondary school, Dick studied at The University of Queensland, and was awarded a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree. He was later awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree.[3]
After undertaking articles of clerkship at Brisbane law firm Goss Downey Carne, Dick was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia.[4]
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. Dick worked in Tuvalu under the Australian Volunteers Abroad program operated by the then Overseas Service Bureau (now Australian Volunteers International), Australia's oldest international volunteer-sending organisation.
Dick worked 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.[5]
Following the completion of his period of service in Tuvalu, Dick read international law at the University of Cambridge. He was a student at Trinity Hall, the university's fifth oldest college, well known for its long history in legal education. He was awarded a Master of Law degree by the university in 1997.
On his return to Queensland, Dick worked as a solicitor at Crown Law, the Queensland Government’s legal office, and as a senior advisor in the Queensland Government, before being called to the Queensland Bar in 2006. Dick practised law as a barrister prior to his election to the Queensland Parliament.[6]
Dick was elected as the Member for Greenslopes in the Queensland Parliament in the 2009 Queensland State Election held on 21 March 2009.
Immediately after the election, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh asked Dick to serve in her Cabinet as the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations for Queensland, a rare honour for a first-term member of parliament. Dick was sworn in as Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations on 26 March 2009. On 21 February 2011, Anna Bligh gave Dick the Education portfolio, along with continuing responsibilities for Industrial Relations.
Dick was responsible for a significant law reform and modernisation program during his term as the state's Attorney-General. This included introducing and leading the debate on 23 separate pieces of legislation in the Queensland Parliament. Reforms have included:
On 21 February 2011, after a Cabinet reshuffle, Mr Dick was appointed as the Minister for Education and Industrial Relations. In this role, he is responsible for more than 1200 State schools, 38,400 teachers and almost 500,000 a million State school students. His portfolio also carries responsibilities for child care centres, kindergartens and early childhood education, along with supporting Queensland universities.[8]
As Education Minister, Mr Dick currently is responsible for implementing the government's significant education reform agenda. This includes:
Dick is married and has two sons. He lives in the Greenslopes electorate on Brisbane’s southside.
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