Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I too wish to rise and express my condolences to the family. I was deeply saddened the day I heard the news that Senator Molan had passed. It's interesting working in the Senate, and one of the things that I do love about working in the Senate is the opportunity to get to know people from all walks of life, with different viewpoints, with opposing views and with agreeable views but always with respect. I certainly found that with Senator Molan. I was with quite a few people with the Defence Force in the Northern Territory at the time we received the news. I would like to put on the record that the Defence personnel of the Northern Territory are with you as well in your grief.

He touched the lives of many people. I certainly did not know Senator Molan before he joined the Senate, but I was very aware of the work that he did. I would like to, if I may, Anne, read to you and to your children, Michael Felicity, Erin and Sarah, some of the words from a retired sergeant from the Northern Territory. This is a message from Robert Richards:

'My recollections of Jim Molan were from his time as the Commander of 1st Brigade at Robertson Barracks in Darwin. When there was an opportunity to talk with him, usually at a brigade function, no matter what rank you were, from the command teams of the units of the brigade to the lower level of the food chain, he would take the time to listen to what you had to say and then, after a few moments of consideration, would respond to your comments and correct you when you were wrong and/or out of your lane but also would agree with some of the things you had said if they had some merit.

He was truly a great man and understood the needs of the soldiers under his command. It was a great honour to have worked under him in the 1st Brigade and to have been given the opportunity to talk with him on a few occasions.

He will be very sorely missed not only by his family but by Australia as a whole, due to his love and care for the family and the country. May he rest in peace.

My warmest regards,

Robert Richards, Sergeant retired.'

I would also point out my time with Senator Molan. That was through the stillbirth inquiry that I chaired in 2017-18. It was through that time that I had the chance to really get to know him as we travelled across the states and territories, listening to families tell their stories and asking for assistance about how our policies at a federal level could assist all families going forward.

At the time when I delivered the report here in the Senate, I brought the report in on a coolamon. Under our way—certainly for the Yanyuwa Garrwa—we used the coolamon to carry our babies, to carry water, to carry life. Bringing an empty coolamon in was symbolic for all of those families across Australia who had lost a baby, and for all those families who had the courage to speak to us. Erin, your dad was just so beautiful throughout that whole process. If I may, I'd just like to read his response to the report here in the Senate. I know it was a difficult time. I'd just like to read a couple of paragraphs from his speech here:

Today I stand in this place as a former soldier not unfamiliar with death and violence, as a senator for New South Wales who has devoted much of my time to national security and as an ordinary Australian returning to the workplace after a five-month period of medical treatment in which the magnificent healthcare professionals and health services of this nation essentially saved my life. For the good wishes I received from you, my colleagues, I thank you most sincerely. However, I am absolutely incapable of thinking of any sentiment more important to me today, or of any commemoration more significant, than to mourn the cherished children whose loss through miscarriage, stillbirth and infant death is suffered each year by thousands of Australian families.

I was honoured to be a member of the Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education, which, in 2018, examined in great detail the significant and far-reaching impacts of stillbirth in Australia. I welcome the National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan, published in December last year and developed under the oversight of the National Stillbirth Project Reference Group—again, established by the then Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council.

I think, most poignantly, Senator Molan's heartfelt comments were for his daughter and granddaughter:

On Wednesday last week, my stillborn granddaughter Emily Charlotte Sutton would have turned 14, but instead we commemorated the 14th anniversary of her shattering death. On Friday last week, her mother—my daughter Sarah—turned 40, a milestone birthday. It wasn't celebrated with family and friends, but only because of COVID health orders in all states.

That was from a speech on 18 October 2021, when we remembered the International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. I'd like to say to the Molan family that it is because of Senator Molan's work with me on the stillbirth inquiry that I felt I had the pleasure of getting to really know him. My heartfelt condolences go out to you all and to his staff. Bauji barra.