Career
He represented the constituency of Vaitupu in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He served as finance minister and was the prime minister for a short period of time. Talake served as the seventh for nine months, 14 December 2001 – 2 August 2002, after defeating Faimalaga Luka in a vote of no confidence.
Talake was defeated in elections in 2002.
In that time, he negotiated the sale of that country"s Internet domain name.tv, to an American company in order to bring an income to his resource-poor country. In 2002, he coordinated an effort, together with the leaders of two other small island nations, Kiribati and Maldives to sue the governments of the United States and Australia for failing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and for their greenhouse gas emissions, which the leaders claimed, resulted in rising sea levels that would eventually flood their countries.
Talake was not re-elected in the Tuvaluan general election, 2002 and was succeeded as by Saufatu Sopoanga.