CONDOLENCES

Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): I thank the Prime Minister for his heartfelt words, and I join him in honouring the life of Father Michael Tate AO. I acknowledge some of the people dearest to Father Tate who are in the gallery today: his brother Richard, his sister-in-law Helen, his niece Monica Biddington and his former adviser and close friend James Gracey.

Michael grew up in Tasmania, as we just heard, in a very warm, caring Catholic household and received a Catholic education. Faith shaped his views and sense of vocation. Studious and well read, he won Commonwealth scholarships to study law at the University of Tasmania and then went on to the University of Oxford.

As an undergraduate, he was in a near-fatal car accident, and he said it gave him an unexpected new life. That incident made his faith and his sense of duty burn stronger. Despite growing up in a family that supported the Liberal Party, it was at Oxford that he began to change his political views by opposing the Vietnam War and Australian conscription.

Inspired by Martin Luther King, as we just heard a moment ago, he was drawn to the political left, and he joined the Labor Party while lecturing in law. Honourable members interjecting— Mr TAYLOR: You can't win them all! He stood as a Senate candidate for Tasmania, winning a seat in the 1977 election.

His first speech was a strong rebuke of conscription. He said: Conscience, I hope, will never be regarded as a disease in Australia … the common good cannot be secured by means which destroy the individual personality. In 1983, he introduced a private senator's bill to exempt conscientious objection as grounds for military service exemption.

When Labor came to power, he was frustrated by his own government's delay in amending legislation, but changes were finally passed in 1992. In finally seeing a freedom he cared for deeply enshrined in law, he declared the victory a most satisfying conclusion. Under the Hawke and Keating governments, he served as the first Special Minister of State, then Minister for Justice.

He implemented new measures to tackle organised crime, drug trafficking and money laundering, and he put forward changes to enforce minimum sentences. He also drafted a new oath of allegiance with an updated pledge of loyalty to Australia and its democratic beliefs. When Prime Minister Paul Keating made frontbench changes, he was overlooked, and, worried about stagnating on the backbench, he left parliament in 1993.

The following year, he was appointed as Australia's ambassador to the Holy See and the Hague. And we just heard the exchange with John Paul II, where the Pope said to him, 'This is what you call a late vocation,' in going to the priesthood. But, at the time of his ordination, Michael joked: I'm trying to practice being docile and obedient and humble, which you might think is not all that easy for a politician … Beloved by his parishes he served across southern Tasmania, Father Michael Tate served his country, his community and God with grace, humility and devotion.

In June, the priest, pastor, scholar, teacher, diplomat, advocate, pilgrim and visionary was farewelled at a requiem mass by so many who loved him. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Richard, Helen, Monica and James. May God bless you, and may Father Tate rest in peace.