He is currently serving as a councillor on Northern Midlands Council Adams was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for the Franklin division from the 1979 state election until the 1982 state election, serving as Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees from 1980 until 1981, and as Minister for National Parks, Lands, Aged Persons and Community Welfare from 1981 until 1982.

[1] Since being elected to the federal parliament, Adams played an active role in the conduct of Parliamentary affairs.

From 2007 he was the chairman of the Primary Industries and Resources Standing Committee and the National Capital and External Territories Standing Committee, and was an inaugural member of the Standing Committee on Petitions which was established to receive and process petitions to the Federal Parliament from citizens and groups.

Adams was narrowly defeated by Liberal candidate Eric Hutchinson at the 2013 election suffering a 13.5 percent two-party swing, the largest in the nation.

[4][5] In 2019, Dick Adams was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to Australian and Tasmanian Parliaments, and to adult literacy.