Dick was born in Brisbane on 21 July 1972,[1] the son of Joan and Allan Dick. His father was a World War II naval veteran and subsequently established a chain of butcher's shops in Brisbane's southern suburbs, while his mother was a midwife.[2] He attended the Anglican Church Grammar School and holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland.[1]
Politics
Dick joined the ALP at the age of 18 as a university student and served as national president of Young Labor.[2] From 1993 to 1998, he worked as an electorate officer for David Beddall, describing his door to door campaigning in Inala, Queensland as his first real break in politics.[3] He went on to work for Senator John Hogg, the President of the Senate, from 1998 to 2000. Hogg became a mentor from this time on.[4] Dick became an ALP organiser and was appointed as the party's state secretary and campaign director in 2004, having served as a delegate to the national conference since 2001.[1] He led the party's successful campaign in Queensland at the 2007 federal election. He announced his resignation in December 2007 to stand for political office, effective in March 2008.[5]
Local government
In 2008, Dick was elected to the Brisbane City Council as the representative of Richlands Ward.[1] He was not a resident of the ward at the time he announced his candidacy, but announced he would relocate from his home in Clayfield. He was endorsed by the incumbent prime minister Kevin Rudd.[5] Dick was deputy leader of the opposition on the council until 2012. In the council elections of that year, Dick substantially increased the Labor majority with a 13.7% swing in his favour, and he was subsequently made the leader of the opposition, serving in that role until his resignation in 2016.[1][6] He was also the opposition spokesman for financial services.[7]
Federal politics
Following Labor's defeat at the 2013 federal election, Dick and Jane Garrett were appointed to lead a review into the party's campaign. At the time, he publicly requested former prime minister Kevin Rudd to remain in parliament.[8]
On the first sitting day of parliament, 26 July, he was elected as Speaker by the House, winning with 96 votes to beat the previous speaker Andrew Wallace, who received 56 votes.[12] In the role, he has been noted for insisting on "safe and respectful" interactions between MPs; a task that political commentator Michelle Grattan has described as "Herculean."[13][14]
Political positions
Speaker Milton Dick addressing the 2023 Australian National Prayer Breakfast.
Dick is a member of the Labor Right faction. After the party's defeat at the 2019 election, he stated that the party needed to "take a stronger and firmer view of talking about resources and the benefits they bring to our economy".[15] In August 2019 he was one of four Labor MPs to join the Parliamentary Friends of Coal Exports group established by Liberal MP Craig Kelly.[16]
Dick has been described by the Australian Jewish News as a "strong supporter of Israel". After a sponsored visit to Israel in 2017, he stated that "terms that are often bandied around – like settlements, occupation, apartheid and the wall – these are all easy catchphrases and clichés to use, and often there isn't a counterbalance given to a lot of those arguments".[17]
Outside of politics, Dick is an avid supporter of the Brisbane Broncos and Brisbane Lions. He has maintained the Anglican faith of his childhood, and has opposed moves to remove the Lord's Prayer from Parliamentary proceedings.[23][24]
