Norman Lacy
Encyclopedia
Norman Henry Lacy, Australian politician, is a former Victorian Government Minister from May 1979 to April 1982 who grew up in Richmond, Victoria and three times represented his state 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.
Norman Henry Lacy was born at the Epworth Private Hospital in the Melbourne
suburb of Richmond, Victoria
on 25 October 1941. His parents were Albert Henry Lacy a licensed plumber and gasfitter, and Florence Emma Lacy (née:Benn). He was baptised at St Stephen's Church of England in Richmond on 28 June 1942. He has a brother Stanley Albert born in 1937 and a sister Janette Florence (Henderson) born in 1947.
During his childhood and teenage years he lived with his parents and siblings, initially at 31 Buckingham Street (for 6 months), and then at 89 Church Street, North Richmond. As an infant he attended the Boroondara Kindergarten in Nth Richmond. His primary education took place at North Richmond State School (now Yarra Primary School) and his secondary education (1954–56) and apprenticeship training at Richmond Technical College (1957–59) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
(1960).
The family belonged to St Matthias Church of England in Church Street, North Richmond (since demolished) where Norman Lacy was confirmed on 19 July 1953. The family were also active in the Scout and Guide movement in Richmond. His mother was the Principal Guider for the Girl Guide movement with oversight of the guide companies in the Richmond district. She was also a member of the Trefold Guild. His father was Assistant Secretary of the Richmond Union Bowling Club.
Norman Lacy's mother died of lung cancer on 21 February 1956 at the age of 44 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. The opportunity to play for his local church basketball team in the Church of England Basketball Association competition presented itself and he devoted all his spare time to the sport. During his teenage years, Lacy three times represented Victoria at the Australian Junior Basketball Championships, as under 16 team Captain in Adelaide in 1956, as under 18 team Vice-Captain in Sydney in 1957, and again in Davenport in 1958, in which year he also won the Best and Fairest Player award.
Lacy's initial occupation from 1957 to 1961 was as an apprenticed plumber and gasfitter in his father's plumbing business that traded under the name A.H.Lacy Bros. in Richmond.
Strongly influenced by the Billy Graham
crusade in Melbourne in 1959, Lacy became a committed evangelical Christian. During his early 20s he was a member of the Scripture Union and Children's Special Service Mission movements and as a clergyman, the Anglican Evangelical Fellowship of Australia. He subsequently, became an active advocate of the application of Christian teaching to social issues.
His father died at the age of 52 on 30 May 1960 when Lacy was 18 years of age. His father had experienced poor health for many years with heart and kidney conditions and had never fully recovered from his wife's death four years earlier, struggling with the impact this had on his young family. For Lacy this represented a seminal moment in his life. He came to acutely feel that he was alone in the world and that whatever the future held, it would be determined by his efforts alone.
Soon after the death of his father, Lacy applied to, and 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 located in The Causeway off Little Collins Street in Melbourne. After completing this prerequisite in December 1961, he went on to study theology (1962–64) at Ridley College. He completed his Licentiate in Theology (Th L), the minimum requirement for ordination in the Anglican Church, in December 1963 through the Australian College of Theology. Being too young to be ordained, he spent another year (1964) at Ridley commencing his post graduate studies. It was at this time that Lacy's theological views were strongly influenced by his tutor, New Testament scholar Dr Leon Morris
Ridley's Principal at the time. 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 in the Diocese of Melbourne by Frank Woods (archbishop)
of the Anglican Church of Australia
.
Earlier in 1965, on 26 August, Norman Lacy was married to Ruth Priscilla Jennings a primary school teacher with whom he subsequently had three daughters. Fiona Jane a clinical psychologist (11 October 1968) and Sharon Elizabeth a barrister at law (4 November 1970) were born during this period.
From 1964 to 1973, Lacy served as Curate in the parishes St Mary's Caulfield (1964 to 1966) and St Stephen's Richmond (1966–1968). And then as Vicar of St John's Healesville with Yarra Glen and Christmas Hills (1968–1973). Lacy's interest in education policy was fostered in Healesville through the relationship he established with the parents and teaching staff at the 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 this integration into the school's life by becoming a member of the school's Parents and Friends Association and for some time its honorary secretary.
While at Healesville, Lacy completed his study (commenced at Ridley) for the degree Scholar in Theology (Th Schol.) in 1969 and graduated the following year. In 1970, as a mature age student, he studied for and completed the Higher School Certificate, the prerequisite for his entry into the Arts Faculty at Monash University to which he and his wife travelled twice each week to study part-time for their Arts (Hons) degrees.
Early in his incumbency at Healesville, Lacy joined the Liberal Party of Australia
under the influence, and with the support of, some prominent Liberal parliamentarians who were amongst his parishioners such as Peter Howson
, Vasey Houghton
, Russell Stokes and Gracia Baylor
. 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 Parliament of Victoria for the election in May 1973. As a result of legislation introduced by Premier Henry Bolte
prior to the 1970 Victorian election that removed the prohibition on ministers of religion from being elected to the Victorian Parliament (along with criminals and bankrupts), Norman Lacy became the first clergyman to be elected. In 1979, he became the only clergyman ever to be appointed a Minister of the Crown in Victoria.
After winning the seat of Ringwood in the Legislative Assembly in May 1973, Lacy moved his young family from the Vicarage in Healesville to a home they established in his electorate at 39 Alice Street, North Croydon and continued to live there for the nine years that he was a member of the Victorian Parliament. During this period, his children attended Croydon Primary School and Tintern Church of England Girls Grammar School. The family belonged to St John's Anglican Church in Croydon.
Norman Lacy was a member of the Liberal Party of Australia
from 1972 until 1984. 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 when he was defeated at the general election that saw the demise of the Thompson Liberal Government
and the election of the Cain Labor Government
. He was Secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1976 to 1979.
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 unemployment that was emerging in the Australian economy under the Whitlam government.
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
. He publicly supported Hamer and many of his causes. 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 Labour opposition including fellow Anglican and Education spokesman Robert Fordham and 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 this he was assisted by his close friend Peter Block who undertook a similar role in the Legislative Council where he was a Member for Boronia Province covering Lacy's lower house seat. Curiously, Lacy made no use in his campaign on this issue of two highly relevant experiences. Firstly, he stood silently together with around three thousand other protesters outside Pentridge prison at 8.00 am on Friday 3 February 1967 while Ronald Ryan
was hanged in 'D' Division by the Bolte Government and secondly, that Ryan's children had been parishioners at St Stephen's Church of England in Richmond where he was the Curate from 1966 to 1968 with special responsibility for youth and children's programs. Lacy did not join the Liberal Party until after Bolte had resigned from Parliament. He felt no affinity for the Liberal Party legend who be believed represented everything to which he did not aspire.
1976 was one of the most fulfiling 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 honours dissertation was entitled "A Social Network Approach to the Origination and Quality of Male Neighbour Relationships on Middle Class Housing Estates." Soon after the 1976 election he graduated. Later that year Kirsten Emma (Paisley) his third daughter, a visual art curator and regional gallery director was born (15 May 1976).
Soon after the 1976 election, Lacy was appointed Chairman of the Parliamentary Party Committee on Social Welfare by the new Minister for Social Welfare Brian Dixon
. Lacy was a strong supporter of the politically moderate former Australian rules footballer and Melbourne champion. He 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. He long held the view that Dixon was the best prospect the Liberal Party had for a future leader. He 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. He believed that the long term consequence of this was that the Party had not prepared for a future in the highly successful Hamer mould and thereafter lacked any capacity for enlightened leadership and progressive policy development. Lacy resigned from the Liberal Party soon after the appointment of Jeffrey Kennett as Leader of the Liberal Opposition in 1982. He regarded Kennett as being in the Bolte mould, erratic, untrustworthy and lacking policy substance.
Recognising Lacy's interest in and commitment to education issues, Deputy Premier and Education Minister Lindsay Thompson
invited Lacy to Chair his Parliamentary Party Committee on Education. This brought the two men closer together and Thompson performed a generous mentoring role with the young parliamentarian. It was a relationship over which Lacy agonised a few years later due to the criticism of Thompson that was implied from the substantial reforms in educational administration that Lacy was convinced he must pursue while in Cabinet. He 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. After Rupert Hamer's resignation in 1981, he voted in the party room ballot for Thompson to be Premier - a ballot that Thompson won by one vote from Bill Borthwick. For ever after, Lacy was left to wonder what his career might have been had he not voted out of loyalty and the more electorally appealing Borthwick (for whom he also had great admiration) had led the Liberal Party to the 1982 election.
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 (Caulfield) and Doug Jennings (Westernport) and in September 1977 he successfully moved in the party room for their expulsion. He 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. He argued that for an elected representative to abstain from voting was an abrogation of their principle responsibility upon which parliamentary democracy was based. He believed that MPs were primarily paid to vote, the record of which was democratically critical information for voters at subsequent elections. To abstain was a cowardly and devious means of keeping the electorate uninformed. His speech brought together the key tenents of his political and personal philosophy about which he was passionate - loyalty, transparency and accountability. He was strongly supported by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
Sir Kenneth Wheeler and Community Welfare Services Minister Walter Jona
Lacy represented the Victorian Parliament as a member of the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education Council from 1977 to 1979. In 1977 he attended the 8 week Advanced Management Program at the Australian Administrative Staff College Mount Eliza on a scholarship he was awarded by the Parliament of Victoria. It was here that Lacy conceived and developed the general thrust of the decentralised regional and school based reforms that, with Education Minister Alan Hunt
, he later introduced into the Victorian education system.
Norman Lacy's loyalty towards, and open support for, his leader, Premier Rupert Hamer
was rewarded after the 1979 election by the Premier personally selecting him for his new Cabinet and giving him the Ministry for the Arts which until then had been held by Hamer. He was also 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.
Lacy held the portfolio of Minister for the Arts from May 1979 to April 1982. During his Arts incumbancy, he was responsible for the establishment of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust and for the construction of the theatres, concert hall and spire of the Victorian Arts Centre. During this period, Lacy's friendship with Peter Block was a most valuable resource. Block was a constant source of advice on many of the difficult issues that emerged in the critical construction phase of this major national project. Lacy was constantly called on to defend the Arts Centre Trust during some highly charged public debates in the Parliament. He had to defend the acoustics, the design of the spire, the rejection of the proposed changes to the Concert Hall interiors, the BASS ticketing system of the project, as well as its delays and cost over runs in debates that were often led by Opposition Leader John Cain
.
In May 1980, prior to introducing the legisation to establish the management structure of the Victorian Arts Centre, he undertook a study trip with George Fairfax, the Centre's Executive Director to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington, Toronto, Ottawa, London and Paris to assess administrative structures at major performing arts centres in these cities. However, Lacy's relationship with Fairfax deteriorated soon afterwards when he had to inform Fairfax that he could not support the additional cost and waste that would be involved in shelving the already acquired Concert Hall interior fittings and finishes in favour of new designs that the Trust had commissioned by John Truscott and was then actively promoting. Being responsible for both the generously funded Arts, and the over stretched Education, building programs created a moral tension for Lacy. Nor was he impressed with the Trust going over his head to directly lobby the Treasurer for the extra multi million dollar funding required for the proposed new interiors. In the end, he won the argument with his long standing mentor and friend, Treasurer Lindsay Thompson
and the Truscott designs were dropped.
In March 1981, Lacy had the Victorian College of the Arts
http://www.vca.unimelb.edu.au/ Act passed through the Victorian Parliament. Its purpose was the reconstitution of the Victorian College of the Arts
(VCA) made necessary by the repeal in 1980 of the Victorian Institute of Colleges Act and to make it "better able to provide for the preparation of young people to enter upon careers as professional artists. It also represents a most significant development for the Victorian Arts Centre."
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
. He appointed Dr Patricia Edgar
to the Arts Ministry staff to steer the project, provided office space and establishment funding, and won the support of NSW Education Minister Paul Landa with whom he co-chaired the early steering committee meetings. In 1981, 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. Lacy's political advocacy and practical support coupled with Edgar's intellectual capacity and lobbying skills eventually won through and the Australian Children's Television Foundation was born with funding support from the Commonwealth Government collectively matched by all the State governments except Queensland. The Foundation has continued to flourish into the 21st century under the dual leadership of Edgar as Executive Director and its long term Chairman and patron Janet Holmes a Court
.
In October 1981 Lacy created Film Victoria
http://film.vic.gov.au/ 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". The Act that he had passed through the Victorian Parliament provided for Film Victoria to be established by the amalgamation the Victorian Film Corporation (as it had been constituted initially in 1976), the State Film Centre and sections of the Audio Visual Resources Branch of the Education Department of Victoria. The purpose of the amalgamation was to avoid the unnecessary duplication of functions by the three organisations; to enhance the capacity of the Government to meet the present and future media needs of Victorians; to simplify access to film materials and to enlarge the benefits to be derived from the use of such materials. Lacy saw this initiative as supportive and complementary to his push to have the Australian Children's Television Foundation established.
Other highlights of this period were:
Norman Lacy held the portfolios Assistant Minister of Education from May 1979 to December 1980, and Minister of Educational Services from December 1980 to April 1982.
Together, Lacy (in the Legislative Assembly) and Hunt (in the Legislative Council
) made a formidable team in the pursuit of their mission to reform the administration of the centralised and moribund Victorian Education Department.http://www.rvpa.org.au/Murray%20Landt.htm As Assistant Minister of Education and later, Minister for Educational Services, Lacy was jointly responsible with Hunt for the most significant and far-reaching reorganisation of the Victorian Education Department in the 20th Century.
Hunt appointed Lacy Chairman of the external Consultative Committee that steered the reform project in its early stages. Lacy pulled together an impressive group of people from academia and business to assist him including Emeritus Professor Bill Walker from the University of New England who became a significant influence in Lacy's career after politics.
Lacy's role in the Education portfolios included responsibility for the Special Services and Building Divisions. He used this responsibility to initiate compulsory Physical Education in Schools. For this, he was recognised in March 1983 by the award of a Fellowship by the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Similarly, Lacy was responsible for the promotion of a reformed Health and Human Relations Education curriculum in Victorian Schools. He 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
. He 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. With the Premier's support he had the Principles and Policy Statements for Health and Human Relations Education approved by Cabinet on 15 October 1979 and the "Guidelines" and "Curriculum Statement" on 8 December 1981.
His work in the planning, budgeting and delivery of the school building program gave the ex plumber some of his most satisfying experiences. He accepted every invitation he received to visit schools in Victoria. Usually, the purpose of the visit was to open a new school, library, art and craft centre or physical education facility. The latter being the subject of a carefully thought out plan - Education & Community Activity Centre (Ecacentre) program - which more efficiently expended the funds available for school assembly halls on a greater number of secondary schools for the purpose of providing a facility for indoor physical education and sport. He 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. He regarded this as his contribution to the growth of the sport that had given him so much structure and distraction during his teenage years. More than 200 secondary schools benefitted from the program that also provided the structural resources needed throughout the state to accommodate his compulsory physical education policy. Returning to Healesville High School in 1981 to officially open such a facility was one of the last highlights of Lacy's Ministerial career.
The most significant achievement of Lacy's short time in government was his establishment of the Special Assistance Program in Victorian Primary Schools. He outlined his ambitious program in a speech he made at a seminar of Special Assistance Resource Teachers in December 1980. The totally new component of the The Special Assistance Program was the provision of 1000 Special Assistance Resource Teachers "in the delivery of services to children with special needs." They were given "a major on-site responsibility facilitating a productive relationship between parents and pupils and teachers." The program involved the training of these primary teachers as Special Assistance Resource Teachers and their placement in schools. Their role was the early detection and remediation of children at risk of illiteracy and innumeracy. Lacy's greatest political disappointment came from the Cain Labour Government's actions after their 1982 election directed at de-emphasising and largely dismantling this educationally highly significant and ground breaking program.
Lacy had a central role in the appointment of two departmental permanent heads in the Victorian public service during his Cabinet career. In 1980, he secured cabinet support for the appointment of Paul Clarkson, a former CRA executive, as Director of the Ministry for the Arts after the retirement of Dr Eric Westbrook the founding Director. Then in 1981, with Alan Hunt, he secured the replacement of Dr Laurie Shears as Director General of the newly restructured Education Department of Victoria by Toorak State College Principal Revd Dr Norman Curry.
During 1981, in the lead up to the 1982 election, Lacy worked assiduously on policy development. He developed policies on a number of issues within his portfolios. Almost every week during the spring session of Parliament in that year he delivered a ministerial statement in the Legislative Assembly on one of these policies in an attempt to counter the emerging mood for change in the electorate. With a solid margin, he had no expectation that he would lose his seat, but he was becoming increasingly convinced that the Government could not survive. Three disparate forces combined on election day in April 1982 to end his parliamentary career. Each of them related to a State-wide issue upon which he had publicly adopted a strong position. Smarting from the provision of a promised additional 1,000 teachers to the Special Assistance Program rather than to the reduction of student teacher ratios in classrooms, the Victorian Teachers Union vigorously targeted him. Right wing Christian groups and the DLP (with the direction of their preferences against him - the first Liberal to be so treated) targeted him over his Health and Human Relations Education program. And the local Chambers of Commerce (made up of main street retailers) targeted him over his support for Sunday trading.
After parliament, Lacy developed a career in management education and consulting. At this time, he was greatly influenced by his reading on technological change in particular Barry Jones
book Sleepers, Wake!. In September 1982, he joined the Management Consulting Services division of Deloitte, Haskins and Sells
, one of the 'big five' chartered accounting firms. Soon afterwards, in April 1983 he bought a home in Camberwell, Victoria and moved in.
In October 1983, with the support of the firm, he took leave to study full time at Durham Business School at Durham University
in the north east of the United Kingdom. While at Durham, he was elected to the Board of Studies of the School. He used the position to encourage the School to establish the first information technology course for M.Sc (Management) students. His masters dissertation was on the perceptions of information technology professionals, their understanding of managerial decision-making and the role of the decision support system designer. He graduated as Master of Science (M.Sc.Management) in 1984. After returning to Australia from Durham, Lacy was appointed Manager, Corporate Communications at the new joint venture IBIS DH&S Australia. It was in this context that he met and was subsequently married to his second wife Gayle Elizabeth Austen, a journalist on 15 June 1985. Within weeks at the invitation of Professor Bill Walker, Lacy was appointed a Member of the Directing Staff (1985–91), and subsequently Director, International Programs (1988–91), at the Australian Management College, Mount Eliza. During the 1st 3 years of this period, he and his wife lived at 26 Bambra Street, Mount Eliza after which they moved back to their home in Camberwell.
In 1988, the college invited him to attend the internationally renowned Leadership Development Program at the Center for Creative Leadership at Greensboro, North Carolina, USA to assess the program and to be trained there to deliver it under license in Australia. During the following 3 years he delivered the 6 day program at Mount Eliza on more than 24 occasions to approximately 600 Australian middle and senior level managers.
In 1990, the college appointed him to lead a team of 20 staff as Director of the China-Australia Management Centre that was established near Beijing
, China
. The establishment of the Centre was an Australian Government aid project in association with the Australian Management College, ACIL Australia and the China National Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Corporation (CNNC). During Lacy's tenure, the centre (based at a CNNC university at Yan Jao), where he and his wife lived from 1991 to 1994, trained 1,500 senior and middle level managers from mines, processing and manufacturing plants throughout China. The centre - whose mission was to train these Chinese managers in western management theory and practice - was one of two that had been promised to the Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang
by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke
on a visit to China in 1983. The other, in the iron and steel industry, was located at Wuhan.
from 1996-98. This position involved the strategic development and management of the society's CMACS certification program into an industry based, masters level, distance education program for the certification of senior information technology professionals. He achieved this by establishing alliances with Open Learning Australia
, a consortium of Australian Universities; the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia
(APESMA) and Deakin Australia.
Lacy's fourth child, Henry Austen was born (10 March 1998) during this period.
From 1998-2000 he was Managing Director, of The Swish Group Limited. The position involved the establishment of the company during 1998, firstly as a consultant, and then from December 1998 as Managing Director. The Swish Group was one of the early Internet Service Provider
s in Australia, focusing on website, touch screen kiosk and CD-ROM
design, e-commerce solutions and hosting. His achievements in this position included the formation and integration of the company by the acquisition and merging of three companies, and its Initial Public Offer and successful listing on the ASX
. In July 1999 he was invited to represent small business in the ICT industry on the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce IT&T Trade Mission to Israel, led by the Minister for Communications IT and the Arts, Richard Alston
.
From 2000 to 2009, Lacy was the founding Executive Director of the Information Technology Contract & Recruitment Association. This role required the establishment of the Association, the development of its products and services and the ongoing management of its membership and revenue growth. During this period, ITCRA’s membership grew from 6 to more than 150 companies across Australia and New Zealand.
Lacy's other achievements in this position included the establishment of a national research project at the invitation of the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts in May 2006. The SkillsMatch - National ICT Skills Monitoring System is an on-line consolidated national database that addresses the need for labour market participants to gain an informed understanding of the ICT skills market and future skills demand. With Tower Life Australia in April 2001, he established the IT Super superannuation fund. The establishment and growth of IT2 as the second most successful IT job board, in partnership with SEEK (2002–2005) and with Fairfax Digital (from 2005) was a significant achievement. As was the design, establishment and growth of the ITCRA Certified Recruitment Professional program.
Norman Lacy retired from full time work on 1 March 2009 after 52 years in the workforce. He has held a number of memberships in a variety of national organisations during that time, including
Early Life (1941-1956)
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburb of Richmond, Victoria
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
on 25 October 1941. His parents were Albert Henry Lacy a licensed plumber and gasfitter, and Florence Emma Lacy (née:Benn). He was baptised at St Stephen's Church of England in Richmond on 28 June 1942. He has a brother Stanley Albert born in 1937 and a sister Janette Florence (Henderson) born in 1947.
During his childhood and teenage years he lived with his parents and siblings, initially at 31 Buckingham Street (for 6 months), and then at 89 Church Street, North Richmond. As an infant he attended the Boroondara Kindergarten in Nth Richmond. His primary education took place at North Richmond State School (now Yarra Primary School) and his secondary education (1954–56) and apprenticeship training at Richmond Technical College (1957–59) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
(1960).
The family belonged to St Matthias Church of England in Church Street, North Richmond (since demolished) where Norman Lacy was confirmed on 19 July 1953. The family were also active in the Scout and Guide movement in Richmond. His mother was the Principal Guider for the Girl Guide movement with oversight of the guide companies in the Richmond district. She was also a member of the Trefold Guild. His father was Assistant Secretary of the Richmond Union Bowling Club.
Victorian Basketballer (1956-1960)
He dealt with his grief by throwing himself into sport. The opportunity to play for his local church basketball team in the Church of England Basketball Association competition presented itself and he devoted all his spare time to the sport. During his teenage years, Lacy three times represented Victoria at the Australian Junior Basketball Championships, as under 16 team Captain in Adelaide in 1956, as under 18 team Vice-Captain in Sydney in 1957, and again in Davenport in 1958, in which year he also won the Best and Fairest Player award.
Lacy's initial occupation from 1957 to 1961 was as an apprenticed plumber and gasfitter in his father's plumbing business that traded under the name A.H.Lacy Bros. in Richmond.
Strongly influenced by the Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
crusade in Melbourne in 1959, Lacy became a committed evangelical Christian. During his early 20s he was a member of the Scripture Union and Children's Special Service Mission movements and as a clergyman, the Anglican Evangelical Fellowship of Australia. He subsequently, became an active advocate of the application of Christian teaching to social issues.
His father died at the age of 52 on 30 May 1960 when Lacy was 18 years of age. His father had experienced poor health for many years with heart and kidney conditions and had never fully recovered from his wife's death four years earlier, struggling with the impact this had on his young family. For Lacy this represented a seminal moment in his life. He came to acutely feel that he was alone in the world and that whatever the future held, it would be determined by his efforts alone.
Anglican Priest (1960-1973)
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, 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 located in The Causeway off Little Collins Street in Melbourne. After completing this prerequisite in December 1961, he went on to study theology (1962–64) at Ridley College. He completed his Licentiate in Theology (Th L), the minimum requirement for ordination in the Anglican Church, in December 1963 through the Australian College of Theology. Being too young to be ordained, he spent another year (1964) at Ridley commencing his post graduate studies. It was at this time that Lacy's theological views were strongly influenced by his tutor, New Testament scholar Dr Leon Morris
Leon Morris
Leon Lamb Morris was an Australian New Testament scholar.Born in Lithgow, New South Wales, Morris was ordained to the Anglican ministry in 1938. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England on the subject which became his first major book, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross...
Ridley's Principal at the time. 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 in the Diocese of Melbourne by Frank Woods (archbishop)
Frank Woods (archbishop)
Sir Frank Woods KBE was an English-born Anglican bishop who became Archbishop of Melbourne and Primate of Australia....
of the Anglican Church of Australia
Anglican Church of Australia
The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican Communion. It was previously officially known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania...
.
Earlier in 1965, on 26 August, Norman Lacy was married to Ruth Priscilla Jennings a primary school teacher with whom he subsequently had three daughters. Fiona Jane a clinical psychologist (11 October 1968) and Sharon Elizabeth a barrister at law (4 November 1970) were born during this period.
From 1964 to 1973, Lacy served as Curate in the parishes St Mary's Caulfield (1964 to 1966) and St Stephen's Richmond (1966–1968). And then as Vicar of St John's Healesville with Yarra Glen and Christmas Hills (1968–1973). Lacy's interest in education policy was fostered in Healesville through the relationship he established with the parents and teaching staff at the 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 this integration into the school's life by becoming a member of the school's Parents and Friends Association and for some time its honorary secretary.
While at Healesville, Lacy completed his study (commenced at Ridley) for the degree Scholar in Theology (Th Schol.) in 1969 and graduated the following year. In 1970, as a mature age student, he studied for and completed the Higher School Certificate, the prerequisite for his entry into the Arts Faculty at Monash University to which he and his wife travelled twice each week to study part-time for their Arts (Hons) degrees.
Early in his incumbency at Healesville, Lacy joined the Liberal Party of Australia
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
under the influence, and with the support of, some prominent Liberal parliamentarians who were amongst his parishioners such as Peter Howson
Peter Howson (Australian politician)
Peter Howson, CMG was an Australian politician.-Biography:Howson was born in London, England in 1919 to Jessie and George Arthur Howson, and was educated at Stowe School and Trinity College, Cambridge...
, Vasey Houghton
Vasey Houghton
William Vasey Houghton MLC , better known as Vasey Houghton, was an Australian politician, grazier, and conservationist. He was one of the longest-serving members of the Victorian State Parliament, spending eighteen years as a Member of the Legislative Council, nine of them on the front bench...
, Russell Stokes and Gracia Baylor
Gracia Baylor
Hilda Gracia Baylor AM is a retired Australian politician. Baylor was one of the first two women elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in 1979, the other being Joan Coxsedge....
. 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 Parliament of Victoria for the election in May 1973. As a result of legislation introduced by Premier Henry Bolte
Henry Bolte
Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG was an Australian politician. He was the 38th and longest serving Premier of Victoria.- Early years :...
prior to the 1970 Victorian election that removed the prohibition on ministers of religion from being elected to the Victorian Parliament (along with criminals and bankrupts), Norman Lacy became the first clergyman to be elected. In 1979, he became the only clergyman ever to be appointed a Minister of the Crown in Victoria.
After winning the seat of Ringwood in the Legislative Assembly in May 1973, Lacy moved his young family from the Vicarage in Healesville to a home they established in his electorate at 39 Alice Street, North Croydon and continued to live there for the nine years that he was a member of the Victorian Parliament. During this period, his children attended Croydon Primary School and Tintern Church of England Girls Grammar School. The family belonged to St John's Anglican Church in Croydon.
Liberal Parliamentarian (1973-1982)
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
from 1972 until 1984. He was Member for the electoral district of Ringwood in the Legislative Assembly
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...
of the Parliament of Victoria
Parliament of Victoria
The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of The Queen, represented by the Governor of Victoria; the Legislative Council ; and the Legislative Assembly...
from May 1973 until February 1976, and for Warrandyte
Electoral district of Warrandyte
The Electoral district of Warrandyte is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is an outer metropolitan electorate and contains Warrandyte, Warranwood as well as parts of Croydon and Ringwood....
from March 1976 until April 1982 when he was defeated at the general election that saw the demise of the Thompson Liberal Government
Lindsay Thompson
Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG , Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 40th Premier of Victoria from June 1981 to April 1982...
and the election of the Cain Labor Government
John Cain II
John Cain , Australian Labor Party politician, was the 41st Premier of Victoria, holding office from 1982 to 1990.-Biography:...
. He was Secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1976 to 1979.
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
Clyde Holding
Allan Clyde Holding Australian politician, was Leader of the Opposition in Victoria for ten years, and was later a federal minister.-Early life and education:...
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 unemployment that was emerging in the Australian economy under the Whitlam government.
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
Rupert Hamer
Sir Rupert James Hamer, AC, KCMG, ED , generally known until he was knighted in 1982 as Dick Hamer, Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 39th Premier of Victoria, serving from 1972 to 1981.-Early years:...
. He publicly supported Hamer and many of his causes. 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 Labour opposition including fellow Anglican and Education spokesman Robert Fordham and Barry Jones
Barry Jones (Australian politician)
Barry Owen Jones AO, FAA, FASSA, FAHA, FTSE, FACE is a writer, lawyer, social activist, quiz champion and former politician. He campaigned against the death penalty throughout the 1960s, particularly against the execution of Ronald Ryan, and remains against capital punishment...
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 this he was assisted by his close friend Peter Block who undertook a similar role in the Legislative Council where he was a Member for Boronia Province covering Lacy's lower house seat. Curiously, Lacy made no use in his campaign on this issue of two highly relevant experiences. Firstly, he stood silently together with around three thousand other protesters outside Pentridge prison at 8.00 am on Friday 3 February 1967 while Ronald Ryan
Ronald Ryan
Ronald Joseph Ryan was the last person to be legally executed in Australia. Ryan was found guilty of shooting and killing prison officer George Hodson during a prison escape from Pentridge Prison, Victoria in 1965...
was hanged in 'D' Division by the Bolte Government and secondly, that Ryan's children had been parishioners at St Stephen's Church of England in Richmond where he was the Curate from 1966 to 1968 with special responsibility for youth and children's programs. Lacy did not join the Liberal Party until after Bolte had resigned from Parliament. He felt no affinity for the Liberal Party legend who be believed represented everything to which he did not aspire.
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
. His honours dissertation was entitled "A Social Network Approach to the Origination and Quality of Male Neighbour Relationships on Middle Class Housing Estates." Soon after the 1976 election he graduated. Later that year Kirsten Emma (Paisley) his third daughter, a visual art curator and regional gallery director was born (15 May 1976).
Soon after the 1976 election, Lacy was appointed Chairman of the Parliamentary Party Committee on Social Welfare by the new Minister for Social Welfare Brian Dixon
Brian Dixon
Brian Dixon is a former Australian rules footballer and Victorian Politician.Dixon played 252 VFL games for Melbourne between 1954 and 1968, playing mostly on the wing...
. Lacy was a strong supporter of the politically moderate former Australian rules footballer and Melbourne champion. He 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. He long held the view that Dixon was the best prospect the Liberal Party had for a future leader. He 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. He believed that the long term consequence of this was that the Party had not prepared for a future in the highly successful Hamer mould and thereafter lacked any capacity for enlightened leadership and progressive policy development. Lacy resigned from the Liberal Party soon after the appointment of Jeffrey Kennett as Leader of the Liberal Opposition in 1982. He regarded Kennett as being in the Bolte mould, erratic, untrustworthy and lacking policy substance.
Lindsay Thompson
Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG , Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 40th Premier of Victoria from June 1981 to April 1982...
invited Lacy to Chair his Parliamentary Party Committee on Education. This brought the two men closer together and Thompson performed a generous mentoring role with the young parliamentarian. It was a relationship over which Lacy agonised a few years later due to the criticism of Thompson that was implied from the substantial reforms in educational administration that Lacy was convinced he must pursue while in Cabinet. He 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. After Rupert Hamer's resignation in 1981, he voted in the party room ballot for Thompson to be Premier - a ballot that Thompson won by one vote from Bill Borthwick. For ever after, Lacy was left to wonder what his career might have been had he not voted out of loyalty and the more electorally appealing Borthwick (for whom he also had great admiration) had led the Liberal Party to the 1982 election.
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 (Caulfield) and Doug Jennings (Westernport) and in September 1977 he successfully moved in the party room for their expulsion. He 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
Housing Commission of Victoria
The Housing Commission of Victoria was a State Government body responsible for public housing in Victoria, Australia...
land deals. He argued that for an elected representative to abstain from voting was an abrogation of their principle responsibility upon which parliamentary democracy was based. He believed that MPs were primarily paid to vote, the record of which was democratically critical information for voters at subsequent elections. To abstain was a cowardly and devious means of keeping the electorate uninformed. His speech brought together the key tenents of his political and personal philosophy about which he was passionate - loyalty, transparency and accountability. He was strongly supported by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria....
Sir Kenneth Wheeler and Community Welfare Services Minister Walter Jona
Walter Jona
Walter Jona was a former Liberal Party of Australia member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.-Early life and career:...
Lacy represented the Victorian Parliament as a member of the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education Council from 1977 to 1979. In 1977 he attended the 8 week Advanced Management Program at the Australian Administrative Staff College Mount Eliza on a scholarship he was awarded by the Parliament of Victoria. It was here that Lacy conceived and developed the general thrust of the decentralised regional and school based reforms that, with Education Minister Alan Hunt
Alan Hunt (politician)
Alan John Hunt AM is an Australian politician, having been a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1961 until 1992....
, he later introduced into the Victorian education system.
Minister for the Arts (1979-1982)
Rupert Hamer
Sir Rupert James Hamer, AC, KCMG, ED , generally known until he was knighted in 1982 as Dick Hamer, Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 39th Premier of Victoria, serving from 1972 to 1981.-Early years:...
was rewarded after the 1979 election by the Premier personally selecting him for his new Cabinet and giving him the Ministry for the Arts which until then had been held by Hamer. He was also made Assistant Minister of Education in support of another strong Hamer supporter, fellow small "l" liberal, Alan Hunt
Alan Hunt (politician)
Alan John Hunt AM is an Australian politician, having been a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1961 until 1992....
, who was appointed Minister of Education by Hamer after the 1979 election.
Lacy held the portfolio of Minister for the Arts from May 1979 to April 1982. During his Arts incumbancy, he was responsible for the establishment of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust and for the construction of the theatres, concert hall and spire of the Victorian Arts Centre. During this period, Lacy's friendship with Peter Block was a most valuable resource. Block was a constant source of advice on many of the difficult issues that emerged in the critical construction phase of this major national project. Lacy was constantly called on to defend the Arts Centre Trust during some highly charged public debates in the Parliament. He had to defend the acoustics, the design of the spire, the rejection of the proposed changes to the Concert Hall interiors, the BASS ticketing system of the project, as well as its delays and cost over runs in debates that were often led by Opposition Leader John Cain
John Cain
John Cain may refer to:* John Cain , 34th Premier of Victoria, Australia* John Cain II , 41st Premier of Victoria, Australia* John J. Cain , American mayor of Bayonne, New Jersey, 1910–1912...
.
In May 1980, prior to introducing the legisation to establish the management structure of the Victorian Arts Centre, he undertook a study trip with George Fairfax, the Centre's Executive Director to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington, Toronto, Ottawa, London and Paris to assess administrative structures at major performing arts centres in these cities. However, Lacy's relationship with Fairfax deteriorated soon afterwards when he had to inform Fairfax that he could not support the additional cost and waste that would be involved in shelving the already acquired Concert Hall interior fittings and finishes in favour of new designs that the Trust had commissioned by John Truscott and was then actively promoting. Being responsible for both the generously funded Arts, and the over stretched Education, building programs created a moral tension for Lacy. Nor was he impressed with the Trust going over his head to directly lobby the Treasurer for the extra multi million dollar funding required for the proposed new interiors. In the end, he won the argument with his long standing mentor and friend, Treasurer Lindsay Thompson
Lindsay Thompson
Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG , Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 40th Premier of Victoria from June 1981 to April 1982...
and the Truscott designs were dropped.
In March 1981, Lacy had the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
http://www.vca.unimelb.edu.au/ Act passed through the Victorian Parliament. Its purpose was the reconstitution of the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
(VCA) made necessary by the repeal in 1980 of the Victorian Institute of Colleges Act and to make it "better able to provide for the preparation of young people to enter upon careers as professional artists. It also represents a most significant development for the Victorian Arts Centre."
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
Australian Children's Television Foundation
The Australian Children's Television Foundation is a non-profit, government-funded organisation in Australia concerned with the development, production, dissemination and promotion of children's television and other audio-visual material for children....
. He appointed Dr Patricia Edgar
Patricia Edgar
Patricia May Edgar AM is an Australian author, television producer and educator, best known as the founding director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation....
to the Arts Ministry staff to steer the project, provided office space and establishment funding, and won the support of NSW Education Minister Paul Landa with whom he co-chaired the early steering committee meetings. In 1981, 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. Lacy's political advocacy and practical support coupled with Edgar's intellectual capacity and lobbying skills eventually won through and the Australian Children's Television Foundation was born with funding support from the Commonwealth Government collectively matched by all the State governments except Queensland. The Foundation has continued to flourish into the 21st century under the dual leadership of Edgar as Executive Director and its long term Chairman and patron Janet Holmes a Court
Janet Holmes à Court
Janet Holmes à Court, AC, HFAIB is an Australian businesswoman, and one of Australia's wealthiest women. She is the Chairman of one of Australia's largest private companies, Heytesbury Pty Ltd, having turned around its fortunes after the death of her husband Robert Holmes à Court in 1990...
.
In October 1981 Lacy created Film Victoria
Film Victoria
Film Victoria is a statutory authority of the State Government of Victorian, Australia that provides strategic leadership and assistance for film, television, and digital media production in the Australian state of Victoria....
http://film.vic.gov.au/ 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". The Act that he had passed through the Victorian Parliament provided for Film Victoria to be established by the amalgamation the Victorian Film Corporation (as it had been constituted initially in 1976), the State Film Centre and sections of the Audio Visual Resources Branch of the Education Department of Victoria. The purpose of the amalgamation was to avoid the unnecessary duplication of functions by the three organisations; to enhance the capacity of the Government to meet the present and future media needs of Victorians; to simplify access to film materials and to enlarge the benefits to be derived from the use of such materials. Lacy saw this initiative as supportive and complementary to his push to have the Australian Children's Television Foundation established.
Other highlights of this period were:
- the acquisition of the property Heide II (in Bulleen east of Melbourne) and a collection of 113 art works from John and Sunday Reed in August 1980. Lacy's on-going support for this project saw the creation of a public art gallery, originally named Heide Park and Art Gallery, (but since 2006 as Heide Museum of Modern ArtHeide Museum of Modern ArtHeide Museum of Modern Art, more commonly just Heide, is a contemporary art museum located in Bulleen, east of Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum comprises several detached buildings and surrounding gardens & parklands of historical importance that are used as gallery spaces to...
)http://www.heide.com.au/which was officially opened in November 1981. - the provision of funding for, and the opening on 8 December 1981, of the National Book Council of Australias "Book House" in Carlton, Victoria.http://www.michaelkirby.com.au/images/stories/speeches/1980s/vol9/1982/303-National_Book_Council___A_Year_of_Difficulty_and_Achievement.pdf
- the unveiling of the plaque on 13 August 1980 commemorating the centenary of the opening to the general public of the Exhibition Building on 29 May 1880.http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1701579/photograph-plaque-commemorating-the-centenary-of-the-first-opening-of-the-great-hall-exhibition-building-29-may-1880http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1701582/photograph-unveiling-of-the-plaque-commemorating-the-centenary-of-the-first-opening-of-the-great-hall-exhibition-building-14-aug-1980
Assistant Minister of Education / Minister of Educational Services (1979-1982)
Together, Lacy (in the Legislative Assembly) and Hunt (in the Legislative Council
Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council, is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to...
) made a formidable team in the pursuit of their mission to reform the administration of the centralised and moribund Victorian Education Department.http://www.rvpa.org.au/Murray%20Landt.htm As Assistant Minister of Education and later, Minister for Educational Services, Lacy was jointly responsible with Hunt for the most significant and far-reaching reorganisation of the Victorian Education Department in the 20th Century.
Hunt appointed Lacy Chairman of the external Consultative Committee that steered the reform project in its early stages. Lacy pulled together an impressive group of people from academia and business to assist him including Emeritus Professor Bill Walker from the University of New England who became a significant influence in Lacy's career after politics.
Women's Electoral Lobby
WEL is credited with major achievements for women in Australia in relation to anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation, equal pay decisions, the funding of women’s and children’s services.....
. He 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. With the Premier's support he had the Principles and Policy Statements for Health and Human Relations Education approved by Cabinet on 15 October 1979 and the "Guidelines" and "Curriculum Statement" on 8 December 1981.
His work in the planning, budgeting and delivery of the school building program gave the ex plumber some of his most satisfying experiences. He accepted every invitation he received to visit schools in Victoria. Usually, the purpose of the visit was to open a new school, library, art and craft centre or physical education facility. The latter being the subject of a carefully thought out plan - Education & Community Activity Centre (Ecacentre) program - which more efficiently expended the funds available for school assembly halls on a greater number of secondary schools for the purpose of providing a facility for indoor physical education and sport. He 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. He regarded this as his contribution to the growth of the sport that had given him so much structure and distraction during his teenage years. More than 200 secondary schools benefitted from the program that also provided the structural resources needed throughout the state to accommodate his compulsory physical education policy. Returning to Healesville High School in 1981 to officially open such a facility was one of the last highlights of Lacy's Ministerial career.
The most significant achievement of Lacy's short time in government was his establishment of the Special Assistance Program in Victorian Primary Schools. He outlined his ambitious program in a speech he made at a seminar of Special Assistance Resource Teachers in December 1980. The totally new component of the The Special Assistance Program was the provision of 1000 Special Assistance Resource Teachers "in the delivery of services to children with special needs." They were given "a major on-site responsibility facilitating a productive relationship between parents and pupils and teachers." The program involved the training of these primary teachers as Special Assistance Resource Teachers and their placement in schools. Their role was the early detection and remediation of children at risk of illiteracy and innumeracy. Lacy's greatest political disappointment came from the Cain Labour Government's actions after their 1982 election directed at de-emphasising and largely dismantling this educationally highly significant and ground breaking program.
Lacy had a central role in the appointment of two departmental permanent heads in the Victorian public service during his Cabinet career. In 1980, he secured cabinet support for the appointment of Paul Clarkson, a former CRA executive, as Director of the Ministry for the Arts after the retirement of Dr Eric Westbrook the founding Director. Then in 1981, with Alan Hunt, he secured the replacement of Dr Laurie Shears as Director General of the newly restructured Education Department of Victoria by Toorak State College Principal Revd Dr Norman Curry.
During 1981, in the lead up to the 1982 election, Lacy worked assiduously on policy development. He developed policies on a number of issues within his portfolios. Almost every week during the spring session of Parliament in that year he delivered a ministerial statement in the Legislative Assembly on one of these policies in an attempt to counter the emerging mood for change in the electorate. With a solid margin, he had no expectation that he would lose his seat, but he was becoming increasingly convinced that the Government could not survive. Three disparate forces combined on election day in April 1982 to end his parliamentary career. Each of them related to a State-wide issue upon which he had publicly adopted a strong position. Smarting from the provision of a promised additional 1,000 teachers to the Special Assistance Program rather than to the reduction of student teacher ratios in classrooms, the Victorian Teachers Union vigorously targeted him. Right wing Christian groups and the DLP (with the direction of their preferences against him - the first Liberal to be so treated) targeted him over his Health and Human Relations Education program. And the local Chambers of Commerce (made up of main street retailers) targeted him over his support for Sunday trading.
Management Educator (1982-1994)
Norman Lacy was separated from his first wife in January 1982 and was divorced in 1983. Being removed from his young family and then losing his seat in Parliament in April 1982 presented Lacy with the darkest period of his life since the death of his mother in 1956. Living alone in The Avenue, Parkville in the neighbourhood of Ridley College where 20 years earlier he had commenced his theological studies, he wrestled with his loneliness and the loss of his family and career. It represented a personal crisis of identity, significance and purpose for which he had little support.After parliament, Lacy developed a career in management education and consulting. At this time, he was greatly influenced by his reading on technological change in particular Barry Jones
Barry Jones
Barry Jones may refer to:*Barry Jones, Baron Jones , British politician*Barry Jones , member of the ALP*Barry Jones , British-born actor...
book Sleepers, Wake!. In September 1982, he joined the Management Consulting Services division of Deloitte, Haskins and Sells
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
, one of the 'big five' chartered accounting firms. Soon afterwards, in April 1983 he bought a home in Camberwell, Victoria and moved in.
In October 1983, with the support of the firm, he took leave to study full time at Durham Business School at Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
in the north east of the United Kingdom. While at Durham, he was elected to the Board of Studies of the School. He used the position to encourage the School to establish the first information technology course for M.Sc (Management) students. His masters dissertation was on the perceptions of information technology professionals, their understanding of managerial decision-making and the role of the decision support system designer. He graduated as Master of Science (M.Sc.Management) in 1984. After returning to Australia from Durham, Lacy was appointed Manager, Corporate Communications at the new joint venture IBIS DH&S Australia. It was in this context that he met and was subsequently married to his second wife Gayle Elizabeth Austen, a journalist on 15 June 1985. Within weeks at the invitation of Professor Bill Walker, Lacy was appointed a Member of the Directing Staff (1985–91), and subsequently Director, International Programs (1988–91), at the Australian Management College, Mount Eliza. During the 1st 3 years of this period, he and his wife lived at 26 Bambra Street, Mount Eliza after which they moved back to their home in Camberwell.
In 1988, the college invited him to attend the internationally renowned Leadership Development Program at the Center for Creative Leadership at Greensboro, North Carolina, USA to assess the program and to be trained there to deliver it under license in Australia. During the following 3 years he delivered the 6 day program at Mount Eliza on more than 24 occasions to approximately 600 Australian middle and senior level managers.
In 1990, the college appointed him to lead a team of 20 staff as Director of the China-Australia Management Centre that was established near Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The establishment of the Centre was an Australian Government aid project in association with the Australian Management College, ACIL Australia and the China National Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Corporation (CNNC). During Lacy's tenure, the centre (based at a CNNC university at Yan Jao), where he and his wife lived from 1991 to 1994, trained 1,500 senior and middle level managers from mines, processing and manufacturing plants throughout China. The centre - whose mission was to train these Chinese managers in western management theory and practice - was one of two that had been promised to the Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang was a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China . He was the third Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989....
by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
on a visit to China in 1983. The other, in the iron and steel industry, was located at Wuhan.
IT Industry Executive (1994-2009)
After returning to Melbourne in 1994, Lacy became Professional Development Director of the Australian Computer SocietyAustralian Computer Society
The Australian Computer Society is an association for information and communications technology professionals. According to its Constitution, its objects are "to advance professional excellence in information technology" and "to promote the development of Australian information and communications...
from 1996-98. This position involved the strategic development and management of the society's CMACS certification program into an industry based, masters level, distance education program for the certification of senior information technology professionals. He achieved this by establishing alliances with Open Learning Australia
Open Learning Australia
Open Universities Australia is an Australian open distance education organisation. The majority of students are based in Australia, however the courses are available to the rest of the world...
, a consortium of Australian Universities; the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia
Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia
The Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia is an Australian employee association registered under state and federal industrial relations acts. This makes it, effectively, a trade union for the purposes of worker-employer bargaining; APESMA is affiliated with the...
(APESMA) and Deakin Australia.
Lacy's fourth child, Henry Austen was born (10 March 1998) during this period.
From 1998-2000 he was Managing Director, of The Swish Group Limited. The position involved the establishment of the company during 1998, firstly as a consultant, and then from December 1998 as Managing Director. The Swish Group was one of the early Internet Service Provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s in Australia, focusing on website, touch screen kiosk and CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
design, e-commerce solutions and hosting. His achievements in this position included the formation and integration of the company by the acquisition and merging of three companies, and its Initial Public Offer and successful listing on the ASX
ASX
ASX may refer to:* Australian Securities Exchange, the primary stock exchange of Australia* Advanced Stream Redirector, a computer file format listing Windows Media files * Armstrong Siddeley ASX, a British experimental turbojet* John F...
. In July 1999 he was invited to represent small business in the ICT industry on the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce IT&T Trade Mission to Israel, led by the Minister for Communications IT and the Arts, Richard Alston
Richard Alston
Richard Alston may refer to:*Richard Alston *Richard Alston , Australian High Commissioner to the UK and former Australian senator...
.
Lacy's other achievements in this position included the establishment of a national research project at the invitation of the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts in May 2006. The SkillsMatch - National ICT Skills Monitoring System is an on-line consolidated national database that addresses the need for labour market participants to gain an informed understanding of the ICT skills market and future skills demand. With Tower Life Australia in April 2001, he established the IT Super superannuation fund. The establishment and growth of IT2 as the second most successful IT job board, in partnership with SEEK (2002–2005) and with Fairfax Digital (from 2005) was a significant achievement. As was the design, establishment and growth of the ITCRA Certified Recruitment Professional program.
Norman Lacy retired from full time work on 1 March 2009 after 52 years in the workforce. He has held a number of memberships in a variety of national organisations during that time, including
- Fellow, Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation;
- Associate Fellow, Australian Institute of ManagementAustralian Institute of ManagementThe Australian Institute of Management is Australia's largest professional body for managers. The sole purpose of AIM is to promote the advancement of education and learning in the field of management and leadership for commerce, industry and government. It is not for profit entity with branches...
; - Member, Australian Institute of Company DirectorsAustralian Institute of Company DirectorsThe Australian Institute of Company Directors is Australia's leading membership body for directors in Australia and the leading Australian not-for-profit corporate governance organisation....
; - Associate Member, Australian Computer SocietyAustralian Computer SocietyThe Australian Computer Society is an association for information and communications technology professionals. According to its Constitution, its objects are "to advance professional excellence in information technology" and "to promote the development of Australian information and communications...
; - Member of the ICT Sector Advisory Committee of Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) (2005–2009);
- Member of the ICT Skills Foresighting Working Group at the invitation of the Commonwealth Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts, Helen CoonanHelen CoonanHelen Lloyd Coonan is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011.-Early life:...
(2004–2006); - Member of the Information and Communications Technology Advisory Group at the invitation of the Victorian Minister for State and Regional Development, John BrumbyJohn BrumbyJohn Mansfield Brumby , is an Australian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became Premier after the resignation of Steve Bracks. He also served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. He contested his first election...
(2001); - Chairman of the Board of IT Super(2002–2009);
- Member of the Board of Independent Contractors of Australia since 2001, and President since November 2008.
Sources
- Andrew Spaull, A History of the Australian Education Council 1936-1986, Allen & Unwin, 1987;
- G Browne, Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament 1900-84, 1985;
- M Frazer, J Dunstan, P Creed Eds., "Implementing Change" in Perspectives on Organisational Change, Longmans, 1985;
- Walter Jona, People, Parliament and Politics, Tertiary Press, 2006;
- Norman Lacy, “Community Education - Another Perspective” in Community, Participation and Learning, J. Bremmer, I. Bennett, D. Kiers, J. Liard, Eds., AACE, 1980;
- Notable Australians, Melbourne, 1978;
- Pamela Bone, Up We Grew: Stories of Australian Childhoods, Melbourne University Press, 2006;
- Parliament of Victoria Registary, February 2008;
- Patricia Edgar, Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television, Melbourne University Press, 2006;
- The Age, 17 May 1979, 5 Apr 1982;
- The Herald, 16 Oct 1982;
- Vicki Fairfax, The Place Across the River: The Story of the Building of the Victorian Arts Centre, Macmillan, 2001;
- Victorian Parliamentary Handbook;
- Who's Who in Australia 1974-1980;
- A series of conversations with the subject and Henry Austen from 23 August 2008 - 5 September 2011;