Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to offer my condolences to the Molan family and I'd like to associate myself with the remarks today, particularly those of the Leader of the Government in the Senate and the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. I won't seek to run through the very significant professional and personal achievements of senator Molan, or 'Jim', as he's better known to us here. I will say that I always thought we were very fortunate to have someone who had done so much put themselves forward as a candidate for public office.

There is no doubt that Jim was a great asset not only to the country and the state but also to the Liberal Party. He was one of the best-known people in the Liberal Party and he was widely loved by people who knew him. The most important thing that I reflected on when I went to his service a couple of weeks ago at Duntroon was that this was a person that had had a huge impact on the country. He had given extraordinary service, but he had had an impact, and that was very profound.

On the personal side, I got to know Jim pretty well. We sat together here and we had many years of interaction through the Liberal Party in New South Wales. On one of the strange assignments I had in 2017, I was asked to bring together an online newsletter for the Liberal Party, and I approached Jim about whether he would write some articles about the world we live in and the role of the armed forces and the like. His first question was, 'Is this for young people?' And it was for young people. He was very committed to educating younger people. He was interested in young people. He was always interested in the future. He had no time for tiddlywinks. He was not interested in the charades we go through here in the Senate sometimes. He was always focused on the big issues. I think he was at times frustrated that so much of the time here was spent on tiddling things and was wasted. He was a man on a mission who wanted to spend his time wisely, and he did. He was never one for the talking points. He has been able to achieve a very rare political feat, which is to be wildly popular with the rank and file of the Liberal Party but his own man every single day. He was never one for the talking points.

He had a huge impact on Australia. He was a great asset to the country and to our state and to our party. He was a very warm and kind person. I found him to be incredibly kind. He was the sort of person who, if something bad happened to someone, would ring that person and say, 'I'm here for you,' or, 'I know that's happened and I'm available to speak to you,' and I know that because he called me on many difficult occasions. He was a very good man. So I wanted to pass on my deepest condolences to his family.