Steve Dickson

Steven Lance "Steve" Dickson (born 24 June 1962) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2006, representing the electorates of Kawana (2006–2009) and Buderim (2009–present). First elected for the Liberal Party, he joined the Liberal National Party in the 2008 merger, but defected to Pauline Hanson's One Nation in January 2017. Dickson served as Minister for National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing in the Newman government from 2012 to 2015.

Political career

Dickson was a small business owner until his election as a divisional councillor for Maroochy Shire in 2000. He acted as a chair for town planning and a board member of the combined Maroochy/Caloundra Water Board. In 2006 he entered state politics, taking the seat of Kawana and defeating sitting ALP member Chris Cummins with a 7% swing. He was a vocal supporter of a merger between the Liberal and National Parties. He was a member of the Liberal Party until the merger of the Liberal and National parties, whereupon he became a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland. On 12 August 2008, he became Shadow Minister for Workplace and Job Security. In the 2009 state election, he transferred to the seat of Buderim. In 2011 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Energy and Water Utilities.

On 13 January 2017, Dickson announced that he had resigned from the Liberal National Party due to his conflict with the party over medical cannabis. He announced he would be joining Pauline Hanson's One Nation.

Following his announcement, the LNP advised it was investigating an allegation that Dickson had downloaded 52 internal documents from the party's secure site hours before his resignation from the party.

Personal life

His son Christian Dickson followed his father into politics and won Division 6 in the then Maroochy Shire Council election in 2008 [1]. Christian went on to win his division unopposed in the (now amalgamated) Sunshine Coast Regional Council election in April 2012.