Member for Lyons
Dick was first elected to Federal Parliament in 1993 and was re-elected in 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007 and again in 2010. Placing his office in his electorate at Perth, instead of in Launceston, Dick set his agenda to being a champion for small towns and rural areas. From 2006 Dick was allotted a second electorate office, because of the size of the electorate, and this is located at New Norfolk.
Since his election, Dick has set up his offices to be able to spend as much time as he possibly can in the electorate doing a tour around with his mobile office whenever Federal Parliament is not sitting. He travels well over 50,000km a year talking to people, solving problems and visiting activities in Lyons.
In his first speech to Parliament, Dick said that although the electorate boundaries have changed over the years, Lyons is still made up of small isolated communities. He said he felt he was originally elected because
"people saw him as a local, somebody who would always be prepared to go into bat for anybody on the bottom rung and for people who were often passed over by those in larger cities...."
He is still working on this principle, while seeking ways to help the economy develop in Tasmania.
Dick is continuing to work on developing the export side of local fine food and wine products. The Labor Government in 2012 granted funding to re-establish and revitalise an abalone farm in Bicheno, to purchase equipment to produce densified biomass pellets for domestic heating in Bridgewater, for the establishment of an expanded hatchery at an oyster farm in Spring Bay, and the construction of plant and processing lines that will add value to Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon waste in Triabunna.
Dick sees the development of infrastructure as being very important. Transport systems, water strategy and implementation plan, schools, medical centres and doctors are infrastructure priorities that Dick will continue to push for. Dick has said he will continue his commitment to his electorate, to finding jobs and developing a better quality of life.