RIP Kay Janet Denman

(22 June,1937 - 20 April, 2026)

"Although my election to this place was not anticipated, I did arrive here with some fairly definite aims and objectives in mind. Then, as now, I was absolutely committed to the implementation of social justice and a more equitable society."

(Kay Denman, Valedictory Speech, June 2005)

It is with great sadness that we report the peaceful passing of Tasmanian Senator, Kay Janet Denman. Kay was a Tasmanian Senator from 1993 to 2005, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

During the 1990s, when Ulverstone (now part of the Central Coast Council) was a focal point for anti-gay sentiment in Tasmania, several local officials opposed gay rights. Notably, Rodney Cooper, a long-serving councillor on the North West Coast, was identified in 2007 as a prominent anti-gay campaigner who opposed "gay projects" and, in the 1990s, held strong views against the decriminalisation of homosexuality. 

While there is no record of Kay using the specific phrase "homophobic bigots" in an official capacity, she was a pioneering and staunch advocate for gay and lesbian rights in Tasmania during the mid-1990s. Her support was particularly significant during a period of intense social and legal conflict in Tasmania over the decriminalisation of homosexuality. 

Key Advocacy and Background

• Decriminalisation Support: Denman's Senate career (1993–2005) was marked by her vocal support for LGBTQ+ rights at a time when Tasmania was the last Australian state to maintain laws criminalising male-to-male sexual activity.

• Ulverstone Office: As a Senator for Tasmania based in the North-West, Denman maintained an office in Ulverstone (and later Devonport), providing a progressive political presence in a region that, at the time, saw high-profile anti-gay rights rallies.

• Social Justice Roots: Her advocacy grew from her earlier work in social welfare, including involvement with Family Planning Tasmania and the Mersey Leven Family Day Care committee.

• Post-Senate Work: Following her retirement in 2005, she continued her commitment to these issues as a Life Member of the Tasmanian Council for AIDS and Related Diseases (TasCARD). 

Kay Denman was born in Latrobe, Tasmania, and raised in Railton. She was educated at Railton Primary School and Devonport High School, before graduating with a Bachelor of Education and Diploma of Special Education from the University of Tasmania. Kay was a schoolteacher from 1958 to 1961. She then took a break during which she had two children, and returned to teaching from 1964 to 1989.

She then became private secretary to the Premier of Tasmania, Michael Field, from 1989 to 1992 and Manager of the Devonport Community Legal Centre in 1993. Kay was an inaugural member of the Mersey Leven Family Day Care Committee, in which she was a strong advocate for access to day care for children with disabilities, and was also involved with Family Planning Tasmania. Denman joined the Labor Party in the early 1980s and was the president of the Labor Party's Devonport branch and a member of its National Executive from 1990.

Kay was appointed to the Senate in August 1993 to fill a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Michael Tate. She was Deputy Government Whip in the Senate from 1995 to 1996, and Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate from 1997 to 2001. She was a long-running chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Senators' Interests between 1996 and 2005. Kay was re-elected in her own right at the 1998 election and retired at the 2004 election. Her term expired on 30 June 2005. Kay had a strong interest in health, education and access issues during her time in Parliament, and was an advocate for people with disabilities, asbestos-related issues (her hometown of Railton had a major asbestos factory), and gay and lesbian rights.

After retiring from politics, Kay was a board member of disability organisation, Devonfield Enterprises, a member of the Tasmanian Community Advisory Group Mental Health Advisory Committee and the North-West Area Health Services Network Advisory Group, and was made a life member of the Tasmanian Council for AIDS and Related Diseases (TasCARD). She also continued her asbestos advocacy, stating that her only regret on retiring from the Senate was that she would not be there to further the cause of those with asbestos-related diseases.

Kay Denman is widely remembered in the Tasmanian Labor movement and the LGBTQ+ community for her willingness to stand against the conservative social grain of the 1990s. In 2011 she was inducted into the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women.

On 21 April 2026 Senator Penny Wong announced the death of Senator Denman in an official statement. May she rest in peace.