Michael Tate

Michael Carter Tate (6 July 1945 – 5 June 2026) was an Australian legal academic and Labor Party politician who later became an ambassador and then a Catholic priest.

Early life and education Michael Carter Tate was born in Sydney on 6 July 1945.

He was educated at St Virgil's College in Hobart, and then studied law at the University of Tasmania, where he resided at St. John Fisher College and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours in 1968.

Tate later gained a Master of Arts in theology from the University of Oxford in 1971.

He served as legal adviser to the Tasmanian Parliamentary Delegation to the Constitutional Conventions from 1973 to 1977, and was a member of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace from 1972 to 1978. That night, he told the ABC's 7.30 Report that during his last audience with the Pope as Ambassador to the Holy See, John Paul II asked him what his next posting would be. John Paul was somewhat surprised when Tate told him he would be studying for the priesthood.

Tate worked as parish priest of the Roman Catholic Parishes of Bridgewater, Sandy Bay, Huon Valley, and South Hobart. He also served the Catholic Archdiocese of Hobart for a time as Vicar General.

In April 2008, Tate participated in the Future of Australian Governance Committee at the Australia 2020 Summit as a general summit delegate.

On top of his ministry, Tate continued his research in law, particularly in the area of international humanitarian law, and worked in a part-time capacity as Honorary Research Professor at the University of Tasmania's Faculty of Law. He was a member of Australian Red Cross's International Humanitarian Law Committee.

Death Tate died on 5 June 2026, at the age of 80.

Honours In 1992 and 1996, respectively, Tate was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Tasmania and Charles Sturt University.

In the 1996 Australia Day Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). All of these awards honoured the role Tate played as Federal Minister for Justice.

He was invited to give the Newman Lecture at Mannix College, Monash University.