Michael Tate

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Michael Carter Tate AO (born 6 July 1945) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who later became an ambassador and then a Catholic priest.

Michael Tate was born in Sydney in 1945. He gained a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tasmania, and a Master of Arts from Oxford. He was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Tasmania, becoming Dean of the Faculty in 1977. He was the Legal Adviser to the Tasmanian Parliamentary Delegation to the Australian Constitutional Conventions 1973-77.

He was a member of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace 1972-78.

He was elected to the Senate representing Tasmania, at the 1977 election, his term commencing on 1 July 1978. He was re-elected in 1983, 1987 and 1993. He was President of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship 1985-88.

He served as Minister for Justice 1987-93 in the Hawke and Keating governments, in addition to other portfolios.

He resigned from the Senate on 5 July 1993. After leaving politics he was appointed Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands and the Holy See, before retiring early to enter the priesthood.

In the Australia Day Honours of 1996, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

In 2002, he told the ABC's 7.30 Report that during his last audience with Pope John Paul II as Ambassador to the Holy See, the pontiff asked him what his next posting would be. John Paul was somewhat surprised when Tate told him he would be studying for the priesthood.

[edit] External links

• 7.30 Report transcript
• Parliamentary biography

Political offices
Preceded by Mick Young	Special Minister of State 1987	Succeeded by Frank Walker
Preceded by New title	Minister for Justice (and Consumer Affairs) 1987–1993	Succeeded by Duncan Kerr
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by ?	Australian High Commissioner to the Netherlands and the Holy See 1993–96	Succeeded by ?