Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to add my words to those that have come before, especially from the member for New England and the member for Riverina, and pay my condolences to the family of Jim Molan AO, DSC, in particular to his wife, Anne; his children, Sarah, Erin, Felicity and Michael; and his grandchildren. I had the privilege to attend the funeral of Jim on 25 January. It was one of those funerals where at the end of it you walked away and you thought to yourself, 'If I get one-hundredth of the send-off that has just been given to that man, then I've lived my life to its fullest.' It was the most wonderful, wonderful tribute to a life well lived that you could ever see. All facets of Jim's life were on display in a humble, beautiful and loving way. It was quite extraordinary. The way that the family spoke about Jim as the family man—the love that you saw from that family towards Jim was all too apparent and was incredibly moving. Those who had served with him spoke with respect but spoke also with a sense of humour, because, although he was a straight-up-and-down man of integrity, Jim also had a great sense of humour, and that came through as well.

It was wonderful to hear the words of Peter Dutton, who spoke beautifully about Jim's contribution to the parliament and the courage that he showed. As people have said, Jim said what he thought, but he said it thoughtfully. That is incredibly important, because we can all say what we think, but the mark of a true representative is someone who says what they think but says it thoughtfully, and Jim did that.

I'll never forget the first time I met Jim. I was newly appointed as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel, and I was asked to go to a branch meeting in Bungendore. Jim always had an interest in the electorate of Eden-Monaro, and he came to this branch meeting. I'll never forget this big man walking in, walking up, saying, 'Hello,' putting his big hand out and shaking it, looking me in the eye and saying: 'I'm Jim. Lovely to meet you.' And he had such a warmth and a smile that you immediately just went, 'I like you. I like you.' It was quite incredible. I still remember that handshake. Right through my career here in this parliament, every interaction I had with Jim was like that.

My lasting memory was Jim wanting to make sure that we did that comprehensive national security strategy. My hope is that amongst all of us—I must say it's been wonderful to hear the contribution from our National Party friends today, because I don't think I've seen so much love for the Liberal Party in a long, long time! But I've got to say I think it's beholden on all of us now, especially on the coalition side, to make sure that that comes to fruition. My hope is that at the next election, as part of our policy, we have a comprehensive national security strategy. I think that would be a great way to honour Jim's legacy. I hope we can make sure that happens.

Jim was a soldier. He was a volunteer, and the stories of his volunteerism, especially fighting fires and doing so from the air, were wonderful to hear. That was a part that I hadn't really understood—how he was involved in that volunteer side, about keeping our community safe. As all of us know, especially those who represent regional and rural areas, that volunteerism absolutely is essential as to who we are and how we make sure that our communities continue to survive and flourish.

He was a senator, but he wasn't just a senator; he was a representative. He represented the people, he represented the party, he represented the membership of the Liberal Party, and people were proud that he was their representative. They were proud he was their representative. You never heard anyone say that they didn't think that Jim had all the fine qualities and attributes that you need to be a representative—and that is what he was.

He was also a writer. To those of us who write—and some of us write the odd opinion piece; some of us might write a little bit longer, but Jim wrote books, and, as we've heard previously, very good, very sound, very thoughtful books on very, very important issues. The service that he showed to this nation, that even on his deathbed he wanted to put words down that would advantage our nation going forward and make sure that we continued to think about the issues which will define not only Australia but the Indo-Pacific region going forward—that he was doing that on his deathbed is the absolute epitome of everything that Jim stood for.

To his family, can I once again say how deeply, deeply sorry I am that Jim has left us, I think still with so much to give. But you can know in your hearts that, for every minute that he was on this earth, he gave his all and made a contribution that all of us in this place would love to in some way be able to follow. May he rest in peace.

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