Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Avshalom Shmulewitz, the son of the Mukhtar of Kastiel, and better known as Saul Same, came to Australia from British mandated Palestine in 1918. His family became farmers in Western Australia, where they still have a property. Later, as the Second World War commenced, Saul joined the RAAF. He was training pilots in the far north of Western Australia when he was called back to his family business, Gloweave, which became the king of the textile industry in Melbourne in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It was the main advertiser on In Melbourne Tonight and probably the best-known textile and clothing business in Australia of that era.

Former prime ministers have described Mr Same as a man of pure heart. He was a Labor man through and through, who cared deeply for social justice and the less fortunate in the community. He was a man who matched his passion with action, donating large amounts of his personal wealth to philanthropic causes. My dear friend Mr Beazley recently recalled the famous functions that would take place on the Sunday before every election at Mr Same's home in Armidale, where we all gave what former Prime Minister Keating called the 'tennis court oath'. In the years before matching funding, these functions enabled the Labor Party to operate. They were never reported by the media, but they were probably some of the most significant political events on our side of politics in Australia. It is for that reason that the very large bereavement notice that I caused to be published was signed by four prime ministers of Australia—Gillard, Rudd, Keating and Hawke—together with opposition leaders Beazley and Crean.

As Mark Dreyfus said, 'While success itself is not an uncommon experience for those who are lucky enough to live in Australia, success is rarely achieved with such grace and is rarely shared with such generosity as it was by Saul Same.' I consider myself extremely lucky to have known Saul for the years that I did. He always gave me good counsel, and he did so with a disarming warmth and wit. I learnt a great deal from Saul and I will miss him greatly. For the last 10 years of life, I sat next to him every Saturday in the Elwood synagogue. The wisdom that he imparted, the generosity of his spirit and his stories of Australian public life, business and politics were legendary. We are blessed to have such a memory of a great citizen of Australia. From his service in the RAAF to his membership of the Qantas board, he is an example of the success of migrants who come to this country and put everything into it. (Time expired)