A State Funeral Service for the Honourable Graham Richardson AO will take place at 11.00 am on Tuesday, 9 December 2025 at St Mary’s Cathedral, College Street, Sydney, New South Wales.
In 1983, Mr Richardson was elected to Federal Parliament as a senator representing New South Wales. He served as a Cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating governments. From 1987 to 1994, Mr Richardson held numerous ministerial positions across various portfolios, including as Minister for the Environment and the Arts, before resigning from politics in 1994.
In 2020, Mr Richardson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the people and Parliament of Australia, to the media as a political commentator, and through philanthropic support for a range of community organisations.
Details regarding the service and online condolences are available on the Department's website.
As a mark of mourning and respect, the Australian National Flag should be flown at half-mast all day on Tuesday, 9 December 2025 in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory only from all buildings and establishments occupied by Australian Government departments and affiliated agencies. Other organisations are welcome to participate.
- When flying the Australian National Flag with other flags, all flags in the set should be flown at half-mast.
- If a set of flags includes the flags of other nations, it would be appropriate to seek permission from the diplomatic representatives of that nation to half-mast their flag.
- An acceptable half-mast position would be when the top of the flag is a third of the distance down from the top of the flagpole.
- Information on flag protocol is available on the Department's website.
Your assistance is appreciated.
Commonwealth Flag Officer