THE HON BILL SHORTEN MP
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG

PASSING OF SAUL SAME, AM

The Labor family mourns the loss of one of our most loyal sons. 

Saul Same AM was a gifted entrepreneur, a brilliant businessman and an extraordinarily generous philanthropist. 

All of us in the Australian Labor Party salute Saul Same’s remarkable life of achievement and his decades of unmatched service: to our movement, to Australia and to the people of Israel. 

Saul came to Australia as the child of immigrants and grew up on a Western Australian farm. He walked five miles to school each day, four of them on his family’s property. 

In 1944, still wearing his RAAF uniform, Saul walked into the Comfort Shirt and Underclothing factory in Fitzroy to cover for his father-in-law who had fallen ill. 

Saul rapidly transformed that small business of just 12 employees making polo shirts for the army into the iconic Glo-Weave – a household name for any Australian who watched In Melbourne Tonight. 

Swift success did not change Saul, it only elevated his humility, his integrity and his great loyalty. 

Prime Minister Bob Hawke put it best when he introduced Saul to Queen Elizabeth II as the ‘most honourable man in Australia’. 

Truly, Saul Same walked with Kings but never lost the common touch. 

Saul dined with Governors-General, he advised Prime Ministers and he offered four generations of Labor leaders the wisdom of his counsel and through it all remained a humble, courteous, decent man.   

No words can repay the debt Labor owes to Saul Same. 

We offer our heartfelt condolences to all who loved him and everyone he loved. 

May he rest in eternal peace.  

THURSDAY, 14 APRIL 2016