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.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh asked him to serve as the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations[3] and was sworn in on 26 March 2009.

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.

[10][11] 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.

[15] 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.

Dick said that the launch – which saw the rocket reach roughly the same height as Mount Everest – showed the possibilities for developing a space industry in Queensland.

He added that the state wanted to promote its aerospace capabilities to national and international markets, and that this launch was a substantial step forward in achieving that aim.