MP, Albury church minister Lance Armstrong dies at the age of 83

Lance Armstrong died on October 14 aged 83 in a nursing home in the Victorian capital after having moved to Melbourne at the end of 2022.

He had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2017 and later dementia.

After serving as a Greens MP in the Tasmanian Parliament from 1989 to 1996, Reverend Armstrong moved to Albury to become minister at St David's Uniting Church.

Current St David's minister Beth Bear paid tribute to Reverend Armstrong, who was part of the Olive Street church's congregation after retiring as its leader in 2002.

"He was everything that I loved about the Uniting Church," Reverend Bear said.

"We're a church that takes social justice seriously and he embodied that well.

"He was fearless and thoughtful and very bold in his pursuit for justice.

"His faith was very important to him and a great source of strength and motivation in everything he did."

Reverend Armstrong published his autobiography Search For Meaning: From Fundamentalist Belief to Existential Faith in 2018 which related how he shouted skyward to God "go and get stuffed".

"It truly freed me to start thinking for myself," he told The Border Mail.

"Over the next five or six years I really embarked on a search for the meaning to my life."

Born in Perth, Reverend Armstrong lived in Melbourne and New Guinea before spending six years in England where he met his wife Ruth.

Returning to Australia in 1968, Reverend Armstrong became a Methodist minister and was elected to Parliament in 1989 as part of a Greens team led by Bob Brown.

Mr Brown paid tribute to his "good friend" Reverend Armstrong who he said "made a remarkable contribution to Tasmanian politics and society".

"Lance was a rock-solid Green who never wavered under repeated attacks on Greens policy, including death threats, from protecting forests to gay law reform, return of land to the Aboriginal community and opposing poker machines," Mr Brown said.

"In 1991 he was responsible for the first Greens legislation ever to pass an Australian Parliament with his bill to ensure the vote of young Tasmanians who had just turned 18 prior to an election."

Eight months after losing his parliamentary seat by 32 votes, Reverend Armstrong was in charge of St David's.

In his autobiography he recalled the judgement of the congregation in 1996 that prompted him to accept the invitation to minister in Albury.

It read: "Despite your controversial past as a Greens MP, the members of the congregation have unanimously voted of inviting you to become a minister at St David's."

Upon his retirement in 2002, Reverend Armstrong hailed the open-mindedness of his church.

"There are diverse views, but there is also great tolerance," he said.

Reverend Armstrong is survived by Ruth, their three children Kim, Tracey and Victor and four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

His funeral service will be conducted by Anglican minister Kirsty Brown at a White Lady Funerals chapel in Brighton East, Melbourne at 10am.

St David's will be open and streaming the service to those who want to gather and watch it in Albury.

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