Peter Charles Collins (born 7 October 1941) is an Australian politician. He was a

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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

from 1976 to 1982, representing the electorate of Noble Park. He served as secretary to Cabinet from 1981 to 1982. Collins was born in

Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere is a town in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east with which it forms the civil parish of Windermere and Bowness. The town was hist ...

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, and he attended Tiffin Boys Grammar School in Kingston. He worked as a dry cleaning salesman, labourer, and in a plastics factory prior to migrating to Australia, and was involved in the first wave of the Ban the Bomb marches. He migrated to Australia in 1963, and worked as an encyclopedia salesman and then as a used car salesman from 1965 to 1972. He opened his own car sales business, Peter Collins Motors, in 1972, operating it until his election to parliament. He was a

City of Springvale The City of Springvale was a local government area about southeast of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1857 until 1994. History Springvale was first incorporated as part o ...

councillor from 1973 to 1979, became chairman of the Westernport Regional Council for Social Development in 1975, and became chairman of the Springvale and Noble Park sewerage authority in 1976. Collins was elected to the Legislative Assembly at the 1976 state election, winning the new seat of Noble Park. A somewhat outspoken MP, he was a staunch opponent of

massage parlor A massage parlor (American English) or massage parlour (Canadian/British English) is a place where massage services are provided for a fee. In the 19th century, the term began to be used in English as a euphemism for a brothel. Context In 189 ...

s and had a strong interest in consumer affairs issues. He crossed the floor to vote with the National Party and Labor opposition in 1978 over a lack of parliamentary time set aside for discussing social welfare legislation. He was re-elected at the 1979 election. Collins had been floated as a potential minister during his second term, and when

Lindsay Thompson Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG (15 October 1923 – 16 July 2008) was an Australian Liberal Party politician who served the 40th Premier of Victoria from June 1981 to April 1982. He was previously the Deputy Premier between 1972 and ...

ousted

Rupert Hamer Sir Rupert James Hamer, (29 July 1916 – 23 March 2004), generally known until he was knighted in 1982 as Dick Hamer, was an Australian Liberal Party politician who served as the 39th Premier of Victoria from 1972 to 1981. Early years Hamer ...

as Liberal leader and Premier in 1981, Thompson promoted Collins to cabinet secretary. In 1981, he travelled to Italy to locate any victims of the

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who may have had family in Australia. Collins faced a difficult race at the 1982 state election. He only held Noble Park by a 1% margin going into the election, and Labor had recruited ''

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'' actor

Terry Norris Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), Ame ...

(who left the successful TV series to enter politics) as their candidate for the seat. Norris soundly defeated Collins as the Cain Labor government came to power, and Collins did not run for office again. He worked as a consultant after leaving politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Peter 1941 births Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Living people Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly People from Bowness-on-Windermere