Norman Lacy

Norman Henry Lacy (born 25 October 1941 ) is an Australian former politician, who was a Victorian Government Minister from May 1979 to April 1982.

He grew up in Richmond, Victoria, and represented his state three times at national under age basketball championships.

He completed university degrees in theology, sociology and management science, and had a diverse career that included periods as an apprenticed plumber, an Anglican priest, a Liberal parliamentarian, a management educator and an information technology industry executive.

Lacy's mother died of lung cancer at the age of 44 on 21 February 1956, when he was 14 years of age.

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

He dealt with his grief by throwing himself into sport.

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

He went on to represent Victoria three times at the Australian Junior (national under age) Basketball Championships - as Captain in the Under 16 Championship in Adelaide (1956); as Vice-Captain in the under 18 Championship in Sydney (1957); and as Vice-Captain also in the under 18 Championship in Davenport, Tasmania (1958) in which year, he also won the Best and Fairest Player award.

Soon after the death of his father in May 1960, Lacy was accepted by Dr Stuart Babbage, Principal of Ridley College (University of Melbourne), to live in at the college in Parkville, Victoria, while he studied for his Leaving Certificate, the minimum requirement for the commencement of theological studies, through the George Taylor and Staff correspondence school, in The Causeway off Little Collins Street in Melbourne.

After completing that prerequisite in December 1961, he studied theology at Ridley College from 1962–64.

In December 1963, he completed his Licentiate in Theology (Th L), the minimum requirement for ordination in the Anglican Church, through the Australian College of Theology.

Being too young to be ordained, he spent another year at Ridley, commencing post graduate studies.

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.

From 1964 to 1966, he served as Curate in the parishes St Mary's Caulfield and, from 1966 to 1968, at St Stephen's Richmond.

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

Lacy's interest in education policy was fostered in Healesville through the relationship he established with the parents and teaching staff at Healesville High School.

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

He 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, 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.

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

From the time that he joined the party in 1972, Lacy was an active and vocal "small l" Liberal and a strong supporter of the leadership of Rupert Hamer.

In particular, he was active in his support for Hamer's private member's bill for the abolition of capital punishment in Victoria.

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. As a result, he made a number of friends amongst the Labor opposition, including fellow Anglican and Education spokesman Robert Fordham, as well as Barry Jones, who for many years had led the abolitionist campaign on this issue.

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

In that he was assisted by his close friend Peter Block, who undertook a similar role in the Victorian Legislative Council where he was a member for Boronia Province, which included Lacy's lower house seat.

Other Liberals, such as Vernon Hauser and Jim Manson, were active in ensuring that he secured the party's pre-selection for the seat of Ringwood in the Victorian Parliament for the 1973 Victorian state election.

He 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.

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

It was on this committee that Lacy got to work with the Opposition Leader Clyde Holding, who often reminded Lacy that for a building trade apprentice from Richmond (the electorate Holding represented) he was in the wrong party.

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.

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

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

1976 was one of the most fulfilling years in Lacy's life.

After his re-election to the parliament for the seat of Warrandyte in March 1976, he was elected by the party room to the position of Secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party.

During his first parliamentary term, he had completed his Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Sociology part-time at Monash University.

His honors dissertation was entitled "A Social Network Approach to the Origination and Quality of Male Neighbor Relationships on Middle Class Housing Estates." He graduated in 1976 and his third daughter was born the same year.

As Minister for the Arts from 1979–82, Norman Lacy was responsible for the construction of the Victorian Arts Centre and the design of its management structure, the establishment of the Australian Children's Television Foundation and the Heide Museum of Modern Art, the creation of Film Victoria, and the reconstitution of the Victorian College of the Arts.

As Assistant Minister of Education and Minister for Educational Services from 1979–82, he was responsible for reforming the administration of the Education Department of Victoria, for establishing the Special Assistance Program to deal with illiteracy and innumeracy, by training and appointing an additional 1,000 Special Assistance Resource Teachers to primary schools, for introducing a reformed Health and Human Relations Education curriculum, and for compulsory physical education in government schools.

He was President of Self Employed Australia (formerly Independent Contractors Australia) from 2008 until 2018.

He is retired and lives in Wye River, Victoria.