Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 16 January, Australia lost an accomplished New South Wales senator, a proud military man and a very vocal patriot. At the time when we heard the news, I was in Washington, DC, with a parliamentary delegation, and we stopped to mark Jim's passing. I said some words. The member for Menzies also said some words, as did the member for Moncrieff, and we stopped and saluted his service and his life.

He was truly a towering man, a towering figure in this parliament. As an Australian Army officer who held one of the most senior positions in decades, as the chief of operations in the Iraq War, Senator Molan brought immense experience into this place. Jim Molan served in the ADF for 40 years, from 1968 to 2008, retiring at the rank of major general. I only served for 13 years, but Jim and I did serve together in Holsworthy in New South Wales. Honourable members would be aware of that base. He was an infantryman like me. It's just that I was the most junior officer in Holsworthy and Jim, as the commander of the 1st Brigade, was the most senior officer at Holsworthy Barracks at that time. So it was there that I met him for the first time.

He's renowned for his connection and work with Indonesia. At that time in the paratrooper team, we had some visiting Indonesian officers, and they wanted to meet Jim Molan. So, because I spoke a bit of Bahasa Indonesia, I was asked to see if we could get a meeting with this big figure for these Indonesian junior officers. They knew all about him from his time in Indonesia. And it was when I was introducing those young Indonesian officers to the brigade commander, Jim Molan, a brigadier at the time, that I really got the first sense for how big—not only physically but how large a figure as a commander—he was.

Jim Molan knew Indonesia very well. Throughout his career he spent significant time there, but he also, importantly, commanded Australian Army units, ranging from platoons of 30 soldiers to divisions of 1,500 soldiers, as his career progressed. He was an infanteer, but he was also a helicopter pilot—so very multi-talented. For that work I mentioned that he did in Iraq, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Australia and the US Legion of Merit.

Throughout his career he served in posts and operations including: Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Indonesia as I mentioned, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Germany, the United States and, of course, Iraq. In fact, one day here in Canberra when I was returning from a briefing at Joint Operations Command, at JOC out at Bungendore where many honourable members have been to and received briefings, I came back here to the house in a car with Jim. He was very generous in sharing his experiences as a young officer, particularly his early service with the 1st Battalion of the Pacific Islands Regiment in PNG and how much he learned as a junior officer at that time.

On operations such as East Timor, during our intervention, he was known for putting himself in physical danger to save locals and Australians from harm whether they be civilian, uniform, Timorese, Australian or from any other country. Jim's friend Greg Sheridan wrote in the Australian newspaper that he was a great, brave and straight character. He said:

More than anyone I've known, in Jim Molan there was not a sliver of daylight between what he said and what he did.

I can certainly believe that. While Jim and I were on different sides of politics, I admired in him his commitment to service and his tireless advocacy on strengthening our Australian Defence Force.

Now many are much better placed than me to comment on Jim's character because they knew him a lot better, and I acknowledge all of the previous speakers and their experiences with Jim. I would also just pay tribute, though, to what was obvious, and that was his abiding passion. And that, as far as I could see, was the defence of Australia. I remember from the moment that I heard that he was leaving the Army—I kept on eye on him, of course—I thought that he might go into politics. I was interested to hear what he had to say free from the ADF. And he obviously became a very strong voice on defence matters.

The accounts of Greg Sheridan and other sources are confirmed by Senator Molan's 2022 book Danger On Our Doorstep, which analyses the risks of a major regional war. We know that Senator Molan was immensely frustrated that his repeated warnings on defence, from his perspective, were not being taken seriously. I did meet with him in his office to discuss his concerns because I was keen to learn. I knew of him. I knew we might not see eye to eye on everything, but I was keen to learn and, essentially, his warnings went as follows. He saw the ADF as being designed not to have any strategic effects independently of the United States and that was reinforcing our dependence by building a one-shot force. That was a lesson that he drew from his time in command in Iraq. In the book, Senator Molan forcefully argued that we are preparing for the wrong war if we still define the role of the ADF as deploying small, politically symbolic forces to coalition operations in far-flung theatres like Iraq and Afghanistan. It's important to note that Senator Molan was fair-minded and he was not limited to always making a partisan calculation on this question. From what I saw, he equally critiqued the coalition's record as well as that of our side of the House when it came to defence policy.

Now, I raise this question because Jim Molan's thinking on how to defend Australia if there is a next war—and we know from history that's likely—but, as he set out in that book, and what he set out in that book and the thinking that he has assisted to bring about in that book, actually may be one of his greatest strategic legacies. It is a legacy that we, on all sides of the House and Senate, can and should learn from. It's a contribution that should be learned from. I think he was, in the truest sense of the words, a national-interest-first politician.

He leaves behind a great and painful void in his family, a few of them that I've met. Obviously, the void is also with his colleagues and staff in this parliament. I salute him for his long service to our country, and, on behalf of my family and myself, send our deepest condolences to Jim's wife, Anne; daughters Sarah, Erin and Felicity; his son, Michael; his five grandchildren; and the rest of his family. So, vale, Senator Jim Molan AO, DSC. Your duty done. Rest in peace.

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