CONDOLENCES
Mr GOSLING (Solomon) (12:01): It's with great sadness that I learned of the passing of the Hon. and Reverend Professor Michael Tate AO on 5 June 2026. On behalf of my family and community, I send condolences to all that loved Michael. The tributes and memorials that have poured in since then tell the story of his life and contribution as a former Labor senator, minister, diplomat and Catholic priest.
They celebrate and honour his public service. Father Michael had an unusually varied resume, but a clear and unbroken thread ran through all of it—respect for the institutions in which he served, for the people that he represented and for the responsibilities that were entrusted to him. Elected to the Senate at 33 years of age in 1978, Michael entered parliament with values rooted in peace, justice and dignity.
He opposed conscription during the Vietnam War, was proudly aligned with the reforming Second Vatican Council and was both inspired and motivated by the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. These convictions were not separate from politics, rather the foundation for it: the foundation which he later applied during his service as the Minister for Justice under the Hawke and Keating governments, where he pioneered the establishment of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and efforts to strengthen our approach to gun control laws.
Michael's public service extended to questions of what it meant to be an Australian. Poet Les Murray later recalled that it was Senator Tate who approached him to help draft a new pledge of allegiance for Australians taking up citizenship in our great nation. These questions of belonging and reconciliation would also come to define the public life of another great leader and Catholic of that era, former governor-general Sir William Deane.
Michael Tate later went on to represent Australia overseas as ambassador to the Holy See and to the Hague before taking another turn in life by entering the priesthood. Michael was someone who showed that public life driven by deeply held principles could coexist with compassion. As Father Frank Brennan, a friend of Michael's, reflected after his passing, Michael was someone who acted according to his conscience, even when that came at a personal or political cost.
In advice that Michael gave to university students, he spoke of life being like a poem and urged the students: Don't wallow in the shadows, safe but unfulfilled. He encouraged them instead to 'be open to discerning the poem, or, maybe, a series of poems, which you are meant to write your life'. By that measure, Michael Tate wrote some extraordinary poems over his life.
For Tasmania, Michael was a dedicated representative. For those who knew him personally, he was a remarkable mentor and source of guidance. For our country, his contribution extended far beyond politics but was always in the service of the Australian people.
Vale, Michael Tate. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Mascarenhas ): I understand it is the wish of honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places. Honourable members having stood in their places— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I thank the chamber.