Terry Norris

Terence Richard Norris (9 June 1930 – 20 March 2023) was an Australian stage, radio, television and film actor, and politician.

As an actor, he starred in television shows such as Bellbird and Cop Shop, and in films like Romulus, My Father, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Paper Planes.

Norris interrupted his show business career for ten years with a stint serving in state politics, for the Labor Party with the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Norris was born in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne. His father was a boilermaker. He married the English-born Australian Julia Blake in 1962. They met in Yorkshire and often appeared together in repertory theatre. They had three children: Dominic, Jane and Sarah

Norris died on 20 March 2023 after a short illness, at the age of 92.

Theatre

Norris trained at the Melbourne Tivoli Theatre and started his career in the 1950s and early 1960s when he worked as an actor in England, appearing in repertory theatre in Bradford, Huddersfield and York among other places, before returning to Australia in 1963. He has performed in numerous theatre roles and was also a playwright.

Television

Norris was possibly best known for two long-running television series roles. He played Joe Turner in Bellbird from 1969 until the series ended in 1977. He then played Senior sergeant Eric O'Reilly in police series Cop Shop starting December 1977. Norris has also appeared in the television series Bobby Dazzler and The Last of the Australians.

Film

His most recent film roles were in Romulus, My Father in 2007, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010, Paper Planes and Looking for Grace both in 2015, and Mortal Engines in 2018.

Entry to politics

Norris left Cop Shop in 1982 to pursue a career in state politics. His character of Sergeant O'Reilly was replaced with a new character called Senior Sergeant Reg Wallace, played by Alwyn Kurts. Despite this, the show was axed the following year.

Norris appeared in the Gough Whitlam It's Time TV commercial campaign

Having been a member of the Australian Labor Party for the preceding 16 years, sought and gained preselection to contest the seat of Noble Park as an ALP candidate at the 1982 Victorian state election. Only needing a swing of just over 1% to gain the seat from sitting member Peter Collins, Norris was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly with a swing of over 4%.

He held the seat until the electorate was abolished in 1985 in a redistribution. He then successfully stood for election in the seat of Dandenong at the 1985 election, succeeding his colleague Rob Jolly who was elected to the newly created seat of Doveton.

Views

Speaking during a grievance debate in 1984, Norris suggested there should be private screenings of pornographic films for Victorian members of parliament to assist them in debates about censorship laws and the classification of movies with objectionable content, similar to what had been arranged for their New South Wales counterparts.

Following the release of a ministerial committee report on the subject of underage drinking in 1986, Norris proposed the legal drinking age in Australia be increased to the age of 20, citing the positive effects of similar laws in the United States and Sweden. He also said the issue of underage drinking was being exacerbated by the growing trend of alcohol advertising deliberately being targeted to a young demographic.

Throughout his parliamentary career, Norris' television experience was advantageous when speaking out on a number of issues relating to the media. In 1985, he accused a Network 10 reporter of having a conflict of interest, claiming he had been working as a media advisor for the Mountain Cattlemen's Association while he was also working as a Ten News reporter during the 1985 Nunawading Province state by-election. Norris questioned the reporter's ethical standards while alleging he had links to the Liberal Party which needed to be investigated. The reporter denied working as a media advisor for the association.

In 1987, Norris was part of a delegation which also included Sheila Florence, Gil Tucker, Terry Donovan and Maggie Kirkpatrick who met with premier John Cain after a mass sacking of 78 employees from HSV-7. The delegation told Cain that the end of television production in Melbourne would mean that there would no longer be training opportunities for actors, technicians, and production staff.

Norris spearheaded the "Make It Australian" campaign in 1988, lobbying against de-regulation of the television industry and campaigning for the local drama quota for the networks to be increased from 104 to 365 hours per year as well as more regional production, children's drama and a guaranteed independence of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal. He gained the support of Hector Crawford, Rupert Hamer and David Williamson.

Overseas trip controversy

Arguably Norris' most controversial political endeavour came in July 1992, just prior to his retirement. When Norris, Legislative Assembly speaker Ken Coghill, and Legislative Council president, Alan Hunt, went on a lengthy overseas bicameral and bipartisan goodwill visit to Asia with their wives, debate ensued. Jeff Kennett and Graeme Weideman were among the critics of the 18-day trip. It was questioned why Norris and Hunt were selected to go on such a journey just prior to their respective retirements, as was the use of public funds for the trip. Confusion arose about who authorised the expenditure when it was discovered additional money had been allocated for the trip under a parliamentary budget. To clarify what had happened, premier Joan Kirner called a special media conference where she blamed a senior bureaucrat for mistakenly authorising extra public funds for the trip. In an editorial, The Age newspaper also questioned whether such a trip could be justified given the state was in recession and the Victorian Government in deficit. The newspaper endorsed Kennett's views that the trip was inappropriate. Norris denied the trip had been a "junket" and condemned the criticism of the trip, becoming concerned about the potential damage to Asia-Pacific relations, stating: "If anything that's happened as a result of the speculation made about our trip, (should) damage that relationship, be it on the heads of the mental midgets who have done the bad-mouthing."

Retirement from politics

After ten years in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, during which time he rose to become Deputy Speaker, Norris retired from politics in 1992 and was succeeded as the Member of Dandenong by John Pandazopoulos.

Film

Television