Later Life
Samuels remained active after his governorship, inquiring into activities of the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation and allegations that "loose talk" by diplomatic staff had led to the exposure of agent Warren Reed. In 2002, Samuels attacked Prime Minister John Howard's response to Senator Bill Heffernan's "vicious attack" on Justice Michael Kirby, using a false document as evidence: "It is incredible that the Prime Minister, if he was indeed opposed to Heffernan's intention, did not ask for the evidence upon which the senator relied. What was in contemplation was an attack of the gravest kind upon the fitness of a High Court judge. Would not the Prime Minister have asked his friend of whom he speaks in affectionate terms to show him the material which justified so serious a course?"
Samuels also resumed his activities in the Law Reform Commission, serving as a Part-time commissioner from 2001 to 2007. He died of a cancer-related illness on 10 December 2007, survived by his wife and two daughters, Deborah and Selina Samuels. Samuels requested not to be given a state funeral.
Read more about this topic: Gordon Samuels
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“You haf slafed your life away in de bosses’ mills and your fadhers before you and your kids after you yet. Vat is a man to do with seventeen-fifty a week? His wife must work nights to make another ten, must vork nights and cook and wash in day an’ vatfor? So that the bosses can get rich an’ the stockholders and bondholders. It is too much... ve stood it before because ve vere not organized. Now we have union... We must all stand together for union.”
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“When a man’s life is destroyed or damaged by some wound or privation of soul or body, which is due to other men’s actions or negligence, it is not only his sensibility that suffers but also his aspiration toward the good. Therefore there has been sacrilege towards that which is sacred in him.”
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