60 Facts About Norman Lacy

Norman Henry Lacy was born on 25 October 1941 and is an Australian former politician, who was a Minister in the Hamer and Thompson Cabinets of the Victorian Government from May 1979 to April 1982.

Norman Lacy grew up in Richmond, Victoria and was educated at North Richmond Primary School and Richmond Technical School.

Norman Lacy was President of Self Employed Australia from 2008 until 2018.

Norman Lacy is retired and lives in Wye River, Victoria.

Norman Lacy regarded this event as the most formative of his life.

Norman Lacy dealt with his grief by throwing himself into sport.

Norman Lacy played for his local church basketball team in the Church of England Basketball Association competition and devoted all his spare time to the sport.

Norman Lacy went on to represent Victoria three times at the Australian Junior Basketball Championships - as captain in the Under 16 Championship in Adelaide ; as Vice-Captain in the under 18 Championship in Sydney ; and as Vice-Captain in the under 18 Championship in Davenport, Tasmania in which year, he won the Best and Fairest Player award.

Norman Lacy was ordained Deacon on St Andrew's Day, 30 November 1964, and Priest on the same day in 1965, at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, by Frank Woods, the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne.

Norman Lacy was Vicar of St John's Healesville with Yarra Glen and Christmas Hills from 1968 to 1973.

Norman Lacy devoted two days each week teaching religious education to each class at the school, becoming, in effect, its honorary chaplain.

Norman Lacy added to that integration into the school's life by becoming a member of the school's Parents and Friends Association, and was its honorary secretary for some time.

Early in his incumbency at Healesville, Norman Lacy joined the Liberal Party under the influence, and with the support of, some prominent Liberal parliamentarians who were amongst his parishioners, including Peter Howson, Vasey Houghton, Russell Stokes and Gracia Baylor.

Norman Lacy was a member of the Liberal Party from 1972 until 1984.

Norman Lacy was Member for the electoral district of Ringwood in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria from May 1973 until February 1976, and for Warrandyte from March 1976 until April 1982.

Norman Lacy was Secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1976 to 1979.

Norman Lacy was defeated at the state election that saw the demise of the Thompson Liberal Government and the election of the Cain Labor Government.

Norman Lacy was on the Victorian Parliament's Qualifications Committee in 1973 and 1974.

Norman Lacy returned the banter in numerous parliamentary debates in which he took on Holding and his party over the growing level of unemployment that was emerging in the Australian economy under the federal Whitlam government.

Norman Lacy made what many regarded as the finest parliamentary speech of his career on the bill, in which he made much use of his theological training.

Norman Lacy became the unofficial "numbers man" on the Government side of the Legislative Assembly where support for the bill was hard to come by.

Norman Lacy was a strong supporter of the politically moderate former Australian rules footballer and Melbourne champion.

Norman Lacy admired the career sacrificing position Dixon had adopted on the hanging of Ronald Ryan, his thorough knowledge of economics, his parliamentary debating skills and the value of his many enlightened and reformist policies - particularly the Life Be In It campaign.

Norman Lacy long held the view that Dixon was the best prospect the Liberal Party had for a future leader.

Norman Lacy thought it incompetent that the Party hadn't arranged for Dixon to be pre-selected for a safe seat and as a result he was defeated along with Bill Borthwick, Glynn Jenkins, Lacy and many others in the 1982 change of government.

Norman Lacy believed that the long term consequence of this was that the Party had not prepared for a future in the highly successful Hamer mold and thereafter lacked any capacity for enlightened leadership and progressive policy development.

Norman Lacy resigned from the Liberal Party soon after the appointment of Jeff Kennett as Leader of the Liberal Opposition in 1982.

Norman Lacy regarded Kennett as being in the Bolte mold, erratic, untrustworthy and lacking policy substance.

Norman Lacy tried, largely without success, to convince Thompson to have his ideas for educational reform, incorporated into the 1979 election policy, but otherwise he remained a great admirer of his mentor.

Norman Lacy was prominent in defending Hamer's integrity and reputation in the Parliament against the attacks of the two renegade right wing Liberal MLAs, Charles Francis and Doug Jennings and in September 1977 he successfully moved in the party room for their expulsion.

Norman Lacy attacked the two members for their disloyalty to the Premier and their party colleagues by abstaining in a vote on an opposition no-confidence motion over Housing Commission of Victoria land deals.

Norman Lacy argued that for an elected representative to abstain from voting was an abrogation of their principal responsibility upon which parliamentary democracy was based.

Norman Lacy believed that MPs were primarily paid to vote, the record of which was democratically critical information for voters at subsequent elections.

Norman Lacy's speech brought together the key tenets of his political and personal philosophy about which he was passionate - loyalty, transparency and accountability.

Norman Lacy was strongly supported by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Sir Kenneth Wheeler and Community Welfare Services Minister Walter Jona.

Norman Lacy represented the Victorian Parliament as a member of the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education Council from 1977 to 1979.

Norman Lacy was made Assistant Minister of Education in support of another strong Hamer supporter, fellow small "l" liberal, Alan Hunt, who was appointed Minister of Education by Hamer after the 1979 election.

Norman Lacy held the portfolio of Minister for the Arts from May 1979 to April 1982.

Norman Lacy was constantly called on to defend the Arts Centre Trust during some highly charged public debates in the Parliament.

In March 1981, Norman Lacy had the Victorian College of the Arts Act passed through the Victorian Parliament.

In October 1981, Norman Lacy created Film Victoria as "a new statutory authority to be responsible for Government activities related to the production and distribution of film in Victoria including film for educational purposes".

Norman Lacy saw this initiative as supportive and complementary to his push to have the Australian Children's Television Foundation established.

Norman Lacy held the portfolios Assistant Minister of Education from May 1979 to December 1980, and Minister for Educational Services from December 1980 to April 1982.

Norman Lacy used this responsibility to initiate compulsory Physical Education in Schools.

Similarly, Norman Lacy was responsible for the promotion of a reformed Health and Human Relations Education curriculum in Victorian Schools.

Norman Lacy had been personally given this project by the Premier on being appointed to Cabinet after the 1979 election to fulfil a commitment Hamer had made prior to the election to the Women's Electoral Lobby.

Norman Lacy pursued this mandate assiduously and against robust public opposition from rural based fundamentalist Christian groups as well as leading members of the Catholic Church and the National Civic Council.

Norman Lacy used his ministerial membership of the Australian Education Council and the Australian Arts Ministers' Conference to initiate the establishment of the Australian Children's Television Foundation.

In 1981, Norman Lacy addressed the Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts arguing for the strategic and national importance of a Commonwealth commitment to recurrent funding for the fledgling Foundation.

Norman Lacy accepted every invitation he received to visit schools in Victoria.

Norman Lacy became enthusiastic about this program for many reasons not the least of which was that the design developed at his request by the Public Works Department was able to accommodate a regulation sized basketball court.

Norman Lacy regarded this as his contribution to the growth of the sport that had given him so much structure and distraction during his teenage years.

Norman Lacy had a central role in the appointment of two departmental permanent heads in the Victorian public service during his Cabinet career.

Norman Lacy developed policies on a number of issues within his portfolios.

Norman Lacy was separated from his first wife in January 1982 and was divorced in 1983.

In June 1985, Norman Lacy married his second wife with whom he had a son in 1998.

Norman Lacy regarded this period as the most satisfying of his career.

Norman Lacy achieved this by establishing alliances with Open Learning Australia, a consortium of Australian Universities; the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia and Deakin Australia.

Norman Lacy was president from October 2008 until October 2018 when he retired.

Norman Lacy retired from his full time career and public life in 2009 and lives in Wye River, Victoria.