Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the condolence motion for Senator Jim Molan AO, DSC. I knew Jim only a little, as a fellow member of the Coalition Policy Committee on Defence and Veterans Affairs. Since coming to this place following the May election, my days and nights have been peppered with group chats messages from Senator Molan, sharing his wisdom, his observations, his snippets of guidance and good humour for all of us. It has been a much quieter place without him.

But I have the benefit of having part of the mighty Molan family in my electorate of Flinders. Helen Gleeson, Jim's eldest sibling, his big sister, is an avid, dedicated, forceful presence in the Mornington Peninsula, a great volunteer, both a servant and leader of my local Liberal Party branch, the mighty Sorrento/Portsea branch. Helen holds her own in that space but has always been very proud of, and keen to mention, her little brother Jim. So, for my addition to this condolence motion today, I asked Helen to share her words, and it is now those words which I will share with you in this chamber:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a little about Jim.

I am the eldest, Jim number four.

We six are spread over seventeen years—god bless my mum—so we each have various memories but the fact that we gathered from various parts of Australia for his funeral, as did our children, his nieces and nephews, tells you something of the love in the family.

While it has been wonderful, and somewhat overwhelming to hear the accolades expressed for Jim, to me he was, and will always remain, my little brother.

I always referred to him as 'little bro' and he to me as 'big sis'—somewhat given ironic his six ft four and my barely five ft two!

Jim was number four of our six and at ten years younger than me, he has gone far too soon.

Jim was a wanderer.

Aged about two he escaped his cot and was eventually found on the Ivanhoe station having negotiated several major intersections and only failing to board the train because 'the policeman wouldn't let me'. In these circumstances we should not have been surprised at his choice of career.

With three 'big' and very outspoken sisters, he learned early to be tolerant and to stand up for what he believed in.

He grew up in a household where a variety of points of view were encouraged and discussions could be loud and forceful. A highly charged political environment from the early days. But one full of love and laughter.

We were never allowed to take ourselves too seriously.

It will be some time before my hand stops reaching for the phone to send a text when something political earns my ire.

And I will miss those 7 am phone calls responding to such texts. We both have odd sleep patterns.

What a delight it was to welcome Anne into our family.

Another strong woman who was happily absorbed into our midst.

Jim would not have been or achieved what he did without her. She was his other half.

I have a precious photo of a handsome young man setting forth for Duntroon. My son, Phil, Jim's nephew, remembers visits to his grandmother's home where this photo had pride of place.

My mother had great pride in the achievements of all her children—and rightly so as she sacrificed to ensure our education, however, how we all laughed each time she began a sentence with, 'My son, the General …'.

Rest in peace, little bro.

I thank Helen for these fine words. And my thanks also go the Helen's husband, Tom, as well as her brother Maurice and his partner, Heidi, for joining us at the Portsea pub in the presence of the member for Dickson and Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, a few weeks ago, shortly before Jim's funeral so that together they could all share memories and tales of the great man, before the formality of events here in Canberra.

I feel that in Flinders we are lucky to have a little bit of Jim in our midst. My deepest sympathies also go to Jim's immediate family: Anne, of course, of whom Helen wrote so beautifully, but also his children—his daughters, Sarah, Erin and Felicity; his son, Michael; and his five grandchildren. May he rest in peace.

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