New tabs in Safari web browser?

[Gerard]

Spuds,
Not sure what you are saying: You type ⌘-T and a new tab opens. Is that tab then active, is it blank or does it have content in it(a web page)?
I'd look here to change to the behavior I think you want:
Safari>Preferences>General : set "New tabs open with:" to "Empty Page"

As a last resort you can quit Safari and navigate to your Library folder in your home folder then Preferences and move the file com.apple.Safari.plist to your desktop which should re-set all Safari's setting to defaults when you launch it again. You can always move the file back later if you need to.

If you can't locate a setting that returns you to the 'normal' behavior here's a shortcut: Type ⌘-T to open the tab and keep the ⌘ key down then type L to activate the location bar.