Appearing on Q&A, retired general and former senator Jim Molan told us that he deserves to be gifted the upcoming senate vacancy which will be created by Scott Morrison’s need to get rid of Turnbull ally Arthur Sinodinis.
When asked why he felt he should be given the job, his answer was “on merit”.
Kudos for the confidence Jim, but is it actually justified?
Molan spent his whole working life in the military and has several military awards. But some question his role in the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq during 2004–05.
After he retired in 2008, Jim published a book calling Running the War in Iraq. He may be the only person who calls that war a success. The next year he wrote an article calling for us to double our troop numbers in Afghanistan. Go harder, was Molan’s advice.
It’s unsurprising that Jim sees the military solution to everything, which is perhaps why our immigration and customs turned into Operation Sovereign Borders enforced by a black-clad bemedalled paramilitary Border Force.
Jim was given a job and he did it.
He didn’t have to think about the cost. He didn’t have to think about what would happen to the people who came seeking asylum but ended up incarcerated in offshore gulags with no future in sight. Or those who were prevented from even trying to flee. He didn’t have to consider what the reaction from people smugglers would be, diverting people to travel by plane to come here or sending them on hazardous Mediterranean crossings instead. Jim stopped the boats.
He was appointed Special Envoy by Tony Abbott and given a few million for something that no-one seems able to specify.
On the back of that, Molan ran for preselection for the Coalition Senate ticket for the 2016 elections. He obviously did not sufficiently impress the powers that be who put him in the unwinnable 7th position on the ticket.
After several senators fell on the section 44 sword, Jim puffed out his chest as he was called up from the reserve bench.
After once again failing to impress his own party in the 2019 preselections, this time being relegated to the unwinnable 4th spot, Molan cancelled a scheduled appearance on Q&A, saying he “would find it hard to defend my party”. They, like many of us, had apparently failed to recognise Jim’s self-proclaimed “merit”.
Jim then ran his own personal under the line campaign much to the chagrin of the Nationals. He bragged on Q&A that he got the most votes ever of anyone in the whole wide world, or something equally as hubristic. The short answer to that is, once again, you didn’t get near enough Jim.
The thing that sticks most in my mind from Molan’s time in parliament is the climate change denialist speaking tour he went on with Craig Kelly, Tony Abbott and Andrew Hastie.
That and his constant calls for a stronger military. He stated on Q&A that we need a national security plan and “I’m your man” to deliver it. Jim has been an advocate for veterans but he’s hellbent on making more of them.
And if we don’t do something urgently to reduce our emissions, Jim will have a whole heap more refugees to deal with adding to the victims of his wars.
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