Former army Major General and New South Wales Liberal Senator Jim Molan has died, aged 72.
With profound sadness we share that, following a sudden and rapid decline in health after Christmas, Jim died peacefully on January 16 in the arms of his family. He was many things – a soldier, a pilot, an author, a volunteer firefighter, and a Senator. Most of all, he was an adored husband, father, grandfather, and brother.
Loving husband of Anne,
father of Sarah, Erin, Felicity and Michael, and five grand-children
Jim was an Australian politician and major general in the Australian Army.
He was a Senator for New South Wales from December 2017 to June 2019 and from November 2019 until his death, representing the Liberal Party.
Jim joined the Australian Army following completion of his schooling in Victoria. On graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1971, he was allocated to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland. He was a graduate of the ADF School of Languages where he studied Indonesian.
He maintained an interest in aviation and held civil commercial licences and instrument ratings for fixed and rotary wing aircraft. He was also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD) and was accredited as a Master Project Director (MPD).
He had a long and active military career.
Regimental postings included the 1st Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment (Papua New Guinea) as a rifle platoon commander; 9th Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment, as adjutant; rifle company second-in-command and rifle company commander in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; Commanding Officer of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; Commander of the Army's mechanised 1st Brigade; and Commander of the 1st Division and its Deployable Joint Force Headquarters. Molan was the Commander of the Australian Defence College, including the Australian Defence Force Academy; the Australian Command and Staff College; and the Australian Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies.
Molan served as the Army Attache in Jakarta as a colonel between 1992 and 1994 and for this service he was awarded the Indonesian decoration Bintang Dharma Yudha Nararya in 1995. Between 1998 and 1999, Molan was the Defence Attache in Jakarta as a brigadier and served in East Timor. On 25 March 2000 he was upgraded to an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service in Indonesia and in East Timor.
In April 2004, he deployed for a year to Iraq. He was despatched to serve as the Chief of Operations for the new Headquarters Multinational Force in Iraq, which was being planned. However, he initially instead spent some time trying to find a specific role within the headquarters structure, before being allocated responsibility for energy security. He was eventually made Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, and served during continuous and intense combat operations. For distinguished command and leadership in this period, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and the American Legion of Merit. After returning from Iraq he served as Defence Materiel Advocate of the Defence Materiel Organisation; and Adviser to the Vice Chief of the Defence Force on Joint Warfighting Lessons and Concepts. Major General Molan retired in July 2008.
In August 2008 he released his first book, Running the War in Iraq. The book concentrated on his experience as Chief of Operations in Iraq during 2004–05, and contained some criticism about Australia's capacity to engage in military conflict.
He was associated with the Liberal Party, helping to launch the Liberal opposition party's military-led border protection campaign in the lead up to the 2013 federal election. At the 2016 federal election, Molan was a Liberal party senate candidate for New South Wales, but failed to be elected. On 22 December 2017, he was elected to replace a casual vacancy caused by a High Court citizenship case involving a National Party member.
Prior to the 2019 Federal Election he was placed in the unwinnable fourth position on the Coalition's Senate ticket in New South Wales. However, on 10 November 2019, he was selected by the NSW Liberal Party to fill the casual vacancy left by the resignation of a Senator. He was re-elected at the 2022 federal election for a six-year term starting on 1 July 2022.
