David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

To Anne, Felicity, Erin, Sarah and Michael, I send my heartfelt condolences and deepest wishes.

While Jim was a dedicated servant of Australia, there's absolutely no-one who would not agree that Australia is better off for Jim's contributions to public life. Jim, yes, served the nation in the Australian Army and rose to the rank of Major General, serving as Chief of Operations for the coalition forces in Iraq, which was no small feat, and he certainly left his mark.

Before that he spent his time in Papua New Guinea working with police and security forces, in Jakarta when Suharto fell and in East Timor in negotiations with the local armed militia before the Australian Army arrived—efforts that no doubt saved many, many lives. The stories that have been told of his exploits while on these difficult postings leave little to the imagination; he was nothing but a true Australian hero who asked not for thanks but, simply, what more he could do for the people of Australia.

Jim was always full of surprises in the roughly three years I knew him. He always surprised me. I remember, not long after he re-joined the Senate, we were sitting in the other place for a joint sitting where the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, addressed us. We're all sitting there with our translation earpieces on, and I see Jim take his off. He was just listening along and nodding like he knew what was going on. I gave him a shove in the ribs with my elbow and said, 'Do you speak Bahasa?' and he went: 'Yes, of course I do. I spent three years there,' or five years—forgive me if I can't remember what it was. He was always full of those sorts of surprises, such was the depth of his talent.

As a realist, Jim was well aware of both our strengths and our vulnerabilities in the world, and he worked until the end to ensure that those vulnerabilities were fixed. This meant that, after giving everything to serve the nation in the army, he decided it wasn't enough and chose to serve in public life in many other ways—finally as a senator for New South Wales—rather than take the retirement he so richly deserved. Many senators are elected to this chamber; however, few, if any, will make as great an impact on public debate as Senator Jim Molan did.

Jim was many things, but one thing that I admired most about him was his commitment to his values and his application of these values towards improving Australian life. Jim once said, 'Our values are what make us strong, bring us together and set us apart from other nations,' and, 'The values we hold as a nation must be reflected in the actions of our military, both at home and abroad.'

Sharing a passion with Jim in the defence space meant we got to spend a lot of time together talking, debating, exchanging ideas and, ultimately, disagreeing on a number of points—but very few. The great thing about Jim was that you could do this; you could disagree in a respectful manner and continue being friends, which is a trait that the world needs more of, not less. Jim, you were, if nothing else, a great friend.

One of the things we agreed on is that Australia is woefully underprepared for a war—a war likely not of our making but one we will likely have to fight, where standing by won't be an option. A war in the region doesn't have to include an invasion of our land to be catastrophic to our way of life. That all or at least most of our seaborne trade would be affected would bring about a catastrophic effect on Australia's economy and our way of life that only an invasion would surpass. As I said, we both thought that this was unlikely. So our part in any war will most likely be to aid allies to keep our sea lines of communication open. How we do that is the challenge that Jim set us all.

His commitment to this would be almost unrivalled. While battling cancer, he still managed to be engaged in all of his parliamentary duties or most thereof—even writing and releasing a book last year. If you haven't read it, you are really letting yourself down. It is such a well-written book on a topic he knows so well, and I recommend it to everyone. Those who knew him know that as soon as parliament was done and he was finished battling other members and senators of parliament, on both sides, he loved to hit the road and be out in the community and talking to constituents. But through all of this he managed to raise and be there for a family that loved him deeply and whom he loved deeply in return.

In Jim's first speech he spoke of four lessons that he learned from his 40 years in the military that he thought were important enough to bring into politics and wider social life, and I think that they're important to repeat on this occasion:

First, leadership is everything .

… Second , Australia brings its unique culture into its military. Blind obedience to orders or authorit y does not make good soldiers ; nor does it make good citizens .

… Third, as a leader, once you find someone who knows what they are doing , get out of the way.

… F ourth, stereotypes are invariably wrong.

As a man that achieved more than most of us mortals could ever hope to achieve, his words ring just as true as when he first spoke them. Jim truly was a giant of Australian life, and we are surely worse off without him. He will be greatly missed in these halls, and I know I will feel his loss personally.

The last meeting I had with Jim was after a coalition defence policy committee meeting, a committee that I chair and that he always attended—or, certainly, as much as he could. His last words to me were, 'Vannie, keep up the fight.' Vale, Jim.