Norman Eric Baxter (21 June 1909 – 14 November 2003) was an Australian politician who was a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

from 1950 to 1958 and again from 1960 to 1983. He was a minister in the government of Sir

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was an Australian politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 8 April 1974 to 25 January 1982. A member of the Western Australian Liberal Party, Liberal Par ...

Early life

Baxter was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

to Jessica Minnie (née Milsom) and Charles Farquharson Baxter. His father was also a member of parliament and government minister. Baxter attended the Perth Boys' School and

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to ...

. From 1929 to 1946, he had a farm at Balingup, which until 1933 he owned in partnership with his brother. After 1946, Baxter worked as an organiser for the Country Party.Norman Eric Baxter
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 26 June 2016.

Politics

Baxter first ran for parliament at the 1947 state election, as a Country Party candidate, but was defeated in the seat of Northam by

Albert Hawke Albert Redvers George Hawke (3 December 1900 – 14 February 1986) was an Australian politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 23 February 1953 to 2 April 1959. He represented the Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch ...

(a future

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

premier). In March 1950, his father, who represented East Province in the Legislative Council, died in office. Baxter stood for the resulting by-election (which was held for Central Province due to a redistribution), and was successful. Having served out his father's term, Baxter was re-elected at the 1952 Legislative Council election, but in 1958 was defeated by Charles Abbey of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He re-entered parliament just two years later, following the retirement of Sir

Charles Latham Sir Charles George Latham (26 January 1882 – 26 August 1968), often shortened to simply C. G. Latham, was an Australian politician, former leader of the opposition in Western Australia and the 10th President of the Western Australian Legisla ...

, a former Country Party leader. Baxter would be re-elected on another three occasions, at the

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, and 1977 state elections. After the Liberal–NCP coalition won power at the 1974 election, he was made

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

and Minister for Community Welfare in the new ministry. However, the coalition broke in May 1975, and he and the two other NCP ministers ( Ray McPharlin and Matt Stephens) resigned from cabinet. The disputes which had led to the split were quickly resolved, and Baxter re-entered the ministry the following month, where he remained until a reshuffle following the 1977 election.

Later life

Baxter retired from parliament at the 1983 state election. He died in Perth in November 2003, aged 94. He had married twice, firstly in 1934 to Dulcie Armour, with whom he had four children. He divorced her in 1966 and remarried the following year to Joan Ellis (née Hughes), although he was widowed in 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, Norm 1909 births 2003 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council People educated at Hale School Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Ministers for health (Western Australia)