Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the fine words of the former speaker, the member for Riverina. Right at the outset I'd like to say to Anne, Sarah, Erin, Felicity, Michael and the grandchildren the reason this is a longer condolence motion than most people ever get in this place is that your father and grandfather and husband was held in such high esteem by his colleagues and by the Australian people.

In life there are three types of people. There are the ones who throw papers out the window of the car. You can't stop them; they just chuck them out. I don't know why they do it. They just do it. Then you get people who always complain about people who throw papers out the window of the car. They're always talking about the terrible person who throws papers out. But there's a really special small group and they're called the 'paper picker-uppers'. They actually stop the car, get out and pick up the papers. They're the people that make a nation great. Jim Molan was a perfect example of a paper picker-upper. He spent his life picking up papers for our nation. He served till the end. When he knew he was dying he kept serving because this country and that flag was more important than him. And the reason he got himself into the positions of influence was to look after Australia. That's why he did it. He loved Australia, and he was going to protect our nation.

Right from the outset he was blessed. God bless him, he was a good-looking fellow. I saw the photos of him when he was young. He was a good-looking bloke. I would hate to be in a competition with him at a dance; he would come first every time. He was a good-looking bloke and he was talented. He was a really good AFL player yet he managed also to have an exemplary record as a family man, looking after his family, being a loving husband to Anne and being a great father to his children. What an incredibly full life.

I suppose I also want to acknowledge what the member for Riverina said. Yes, when he first got elected, when Fiona Nash lost the job, I was kind of angry. I was going, 'Surely that's a Nat position and a Nat person should be filling that position.' I said: 'I don't know who this Jim Molan is. As far as I'm concerned, it should be another Nat who gets up in that position.' So I started from the premise of not wanting to like him, but I was disabused of that belief very quickly because I could see: 'This guy is full bottle. This is good for our nation.'

His biggest thing was to go against the zeitgeist and to be completely truthful with the Australian people. Danger On Our Doorstep was a classic example—but only one, and probably one of the last examples—of how Jim would say, 'Wake up.' He could break through the political correctness and just hit you between the eyes and say: 'Do you understand what is happening? Do you understand the threat this nation is under? Do you understand what the intentions of the Communist Party in China are? Do you know what that will mean for your children?'—or for his children. 'If their views prevail and our life fails, what's the life that they are going to have? So wake up. Get serious. Switch on. Put aside the political correctness and be truthful about the threat that's before you.' And I thought that was exemplary.

Both the member for Riverina and I have been deputy chair of the National Security Committee, an incredible honour. Now, you have a lot of advisers. I had one unpaid-for adviser who was constantly on the phone, and that was one Jim Molan, telling me everything that he needed to happen. Later on he became another adviser to one Vikki Campion about everything she should write, because he wanted his message out. He never went to sleep without thinking about this nation, without thinking, 'You've got to hear this; you've got to do this.' He could have just retired. He could have just struck his hoochie, as they would say in the Army, put it back in with his kit and gone home. He could have done that, but he didn't. He kept fighting for our nation.

I campaigned with him in Eden-Monaro. He was a crook man. He was crook, and we were going around with the candidate trying to see if we could get this candidate up in Eden-Monaro. He never complained. He never turned up and said: 'I feel really sick. I feel down in the chops. I'm not up to this today.' He just muscled on. He got over it and got out there and did it for Australia.

Now, I think the mark of so many people here—because let's be honest. For most of us, all the people here, if I said, 'Name all the people who were in the parliament when you arrived,' you won't be able to give their names; you'd be lucky if you got half of them. Most people go through here and are forgotten about. Not Jim. He won't be. He won't be forgotten.

Without being too grandiose, but to borrow a metaphor, not a simile: when Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, it didn't even make the papers. It was like a non-event:'Oh, and this other bloke called Lincoln gave a speech and blah, blah, but don't worry about that.' They gave this marvellous discourse about this flowery BS speech that was given by some general, and I can't even remember his name. But the one that they remember now is Lincoln's, because a good career, like a good wine, matures over time and is appreciated by the appropriate palates who can understand the value that was in that person's life, and they look at that person's life through the prism of patriotism—not nationalism, which is unguided belief in your nation, but patriotism, a love of your nation. Jim had a love of Australia.

And so, to Jim, who railed against so much that has already been said here, where we sanitise to the point of a lie—so much is said. He was so refreshing that he would just say the truth. To Jim, who wanted to be known as 'Jim', not as 'sir', not as his rank—he wanted to be known as Jim. He was not full of himself. He believed in himself, which you must do, but he was not full of himself. He walked out of this place and said, 'I want to be known as Jim.' Well, Jim, you have been a faithful servant, and now it is time for your rest. You have been a great adornment to our nation. You'll be so sadly missed. You have been a patriot, you have been a father and a grandfather, and you have brought honour. You have brought honour to this parliament and you have brought honour to your family. May you rest in peace, old mate.

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