Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to pay tribute to Senator Major-General Jim Molan, AO, DSC, following his passing last month. I would also like to thank the member for Braddon for his very touching tribute that he just made of the senator.

Jim was a fierce advocate for the defence and veteran community of our nation. We are grateful for his commitment to our country and his loyal service over many, many decades. Senator Molan will be remembered for his 40 years of service to this country in the Australian Army. Retiring in 2008 as a major general, his distinguished service saw him deployed in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, Germany, the United States and Iraq. As we all know, following his retirement from our Australian Defence Force, his service to our nation did not cease.

Prior to joining our parliament, he also worked as a volunteer bush firefighter. As somebody who comes from a community that is very vulnerable to bushfire, as we see around the nation, I don't want to skip over this very important continuation of service to our country, because Jim's was a life of service. He took those skills that he had learned in our Defence Force, and, even in his private time, as an aviator and as someone committed to his local community, he gave up his time to make efforts to defend the lives and property of his fellow Australians in his community. That effort is undertaken every day by so many Australians both professionally and on a volunteer basis. In a week where we saw yet another plane crash of people that were looking after our community due to fire—fortunately those two aviators survived that horrific crash—it's important that that contribution and service of Senator Molan is remembered as well.

Following all of that, as many of us here, of course, are very familiar, the senator served in our nation's parliament. Jim is acknowledged for his passionate contributions to the national security debate in our political life. I have admired his advocacy regarding our defence and national security and his championing of issues affecting those who serve or have served in our Defence Force. Indeed, it's likely that he disagreed with the approaches of his own government just as much as, if not more than, he did ours. It's that steadfast commitment to what he saw as right, whether we agreed with him or not and whether others agreed or not, that absolutely can be seen as what we want to see in our parliamentary representatives as people standing up for they believe to be true. Jim undoubtedly did that every day that he served in our parliament.

He understood the challenges that face our veterans. He is an excellent example of what can be achieved by veterans—the contribution that they can make at a local or national level following their transition from military service. Our parliament is a richer place for the veterans who serve in it, who have stood up to defend the democratic beliefs that we all share. Jim was a true servant of our nation. As the National President of the RSL, Greg Melick, said:

Jim Molan had an enormous sense of duty and was a great servant of his country … He was a great friend to the veteran community and was much admired by those who knew him and those whom he had assisted.

I think those comments sum up the sentiments of many. Indeed, they sum up the sentiments of people from my own church community who stopped me after mass only the other weekend to talk to me of their service in the Defence Force with Jim Molan and the high regard they had for him as a leader, as someone who sought not only to defend our nation but to look after the troops in his command as well. Jim's influence, no doubt, will be felt for many years to come.

I send my deepest condolences to Jim's family—to Anne, his four children and his delightful grandchildren, who did bring a smile to our faces at his funeral the other week—and to Jim's friends and colleagues. Indeed, I can only hope that people would say such nice things about me as a dad as his children said about him at his funeral. I thank Jim and his family for their service to our nation. Good soldiering. Rest in peace.

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