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Milton Dick

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The Honourable
Milton Dick
MP
Dick in 2023
32nd Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 July 2022
DeputySharon Claydon
Preceded byAndrew Wallace
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Oxley
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 July 2016
Preceded byBernie Ripoll
Leader of the Opposition
on Brisbane City Council
In office
1 May 2012 – 19 March 2016
Preceded byShayne Sutton
Succeeded byPeter Cumming
Councillor of the City of Brisbane
for Richlands Ward
In office
15 March 2008 – 19 March 2016
Preceded byLes Bryant
Succeeded byCharles Strunk
Secretary of the Queensland Labor Party
In office
4 April 2004 – 15 March 2008
Preceded byCameron Milner
Succeeded byAnthony Chisholm
Personal details
Born (1972-07-21) 21 July 1972 (age 52)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Political partyAustralian Labor Party
RelationsCameron Dick (brother)
Alma materUniversity of Queensland
Signature
Websitewww.miltondick.com.au

Dugald Milton Dick (born 21 July 1972) is an Australian politician serving as the 32nd and current speaker of the Australian House of Representatives since 2022. A member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he has been the member of parliament (MP) for the division of Oxley, covering Brisbane's western suburbs, since 2016. He previously served on the Brisbane City Council from 2008 to 2016 and as an ALP state secretary from 2004 to 2008.

Milton Dick is the brother of Queensland state treasurer and Deputy Premier Cameron Dick.

Early life

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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

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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

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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. Following a significant defeat in the 2012 Brisbane City Council election, which reduced Labor's seat count from 10 to 7 in the council chamber, Dick was subsequently made the leader of the opposition. He served in that role until his resignation in 2016.[1][6] He was also the opposition spokesman for financial services.[7]

Federal politics

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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]

In April 2015, Dick announced he would seek preselection for the federal seat of Oxley following the retirement of Bernie Ripoll.[7] He was endorsed unopposed,[9] and retained Oxley for the ALP at the 2016 federal election.[10]

In July 2022, following the ALP's victory at the 2022 federal election, Dick was nominated as the party's candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was chosen under a factional deal in which the Right faction would choose the Speaker and the Left faction would choose the President of the Senate. He defeated Rob Mitchell, the incumbent second deputy speaker, with the support of the Queensland and New South Wales Right factions.[11]

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

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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]

Personal life

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Outside of politics, Dick is an avid supporter of the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL) and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).

He has maintained the Anglican faith of his childhood, and has opposed moves to remove the Lord's Prayer from Parliamentary proceedings.[18][19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Mr Milton Dick MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b "First speech". Hansard. Parliament of Australia. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  3. ^ Moore, Tony (15 March 2008). "Milton ready to serve Brisbane's newest areas". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  4. ^ Holmes, Dan (26 July 2022). "New speaker's values set to raise tone of debate in parliament". The Mandarin. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  5. ^ a b Brisbanetimes.com.au (11 December 2007). "Milton Dick to quit as ALP state secretary (2007)". Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  6. ^ "Forest Lake - BCC Electorate, Candidates, Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  7. ^ a b Wordsworth, Matt (15 April 2015). "Milton Dick, Brisbane City councillor, to seek preselection for federal seat of Oxley". ABC News. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Rudd should stay, says ALP overseer". Brisbane Times. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  9. ^ Sydney Morning Herald (20 May 2015). "Milton Dick Endorsed as next Labor candidate for Oxley". Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Oxley – Australia Votes". Election 2016. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  11. ^ Ludlow, Mark (19 July 2022). "Qld Labor MP Milton Dick endorsed as next Speaker". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  12. ^ Bannister, Maeve (26 July 2022). "House Speaker pledges to restore respect". Australian Associated Press. Canberra, ACT. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2022 – via The Canberra Times.
  13. ^ McLeod, Catie (22 June 2022). "Housing tensions between Anthony Albanese and Max Chandler-Mather boil over for a second day". The Australian.
  14. ^ Grattan, Michelle (30 October 2023). "View from The Hill: is the political system letting down the Australian public?". The Conversation. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  15. ^ Brown, Greg (21 May 2019). "Labor's own call for policy overhaul". The Australian. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  16. ^ Koziol, Michael; Hutchinson, Samantha (1 August 2019). "Labor MPs flock to join Craig Kelly's 'friends of coal' group". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  17. ^ Desiatnik, Shane (4 April 2017). "Israel trip empowers MPs". Australian Jewish News. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  18. ^ Davenport, Tony (29 July 2022). "Push To Drop Lord's Prayer in Senate". Vision Christian Media. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  19. ^ LEWIS, ROSIE; WORKMAN, ALICE. "Atheist Senate president Sue Lines wants Lord's Prayer 'gone'". The Australian.

 

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Oxley
2016–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
2022–present
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