37 Facts About Jim Molan

Jim Molan was a Liberal Party senator for New South Wales from December 2017 to June 2019 and from November 2019 until his death in January 2023.

Jim Molan was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, as well as the Legion of Merit by the United States government.

Jim Molan retired from the Australian Army in 2008, and later that year released his first book, Running the War in Iraq.

In 2016, Jim Molan unsuccessfully stood as a Liberal Party candidate for the Senate in New South Wales at the 2016 federal election.

Jim Molan was not re-elected to the Senate in the 2019 federal election.

On 10 November 2019, Jim Molan was selected by the NSW Liberal Party to fill the casual vacancy left by the resignation of Senator Arthur Sinodinos.

Jim Molan was appointed by a joint sitting of the NSW Parliament on 14 November 2019.

Jim Molan joined the Australian Army following completion of his schooling in Victoria.

Jim Molan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Queensland.

Jim Molan was a graduate of the Australian defence force's School of Languages where he studied Indonesian.

Jim Molan maintained an interest in aviation and held civil commercial licences and instrument ratings for fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

Jim Molan was a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was accredited as a master project director.

Jim 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.

Jim 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, Jim Molan was the defence attache in Jakarta as a brigadier and served in East Timor.

Jim Molan was despatched to serve as the chief of operations of the new Multinational Force in Iraq headquarters that was being planned.

Jim Molan was eventually made deputy chief of staff for operations, and served during continuous and intense combat operations.

Jim Molan has been accused of responsibility for planning and carrying out multiple purported war crimes during the attack on Fallujah in late 2004.

Jim Molan 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 in Brisbane on 25 July 2013.

Jim Molan has been an outspoken critic of Labor's management of defence matters.

In mid-2014 Jim Molan was engaged as an advisor to minister for defence David Johnston, but resigned after three weeks.

At the 2016 federal election, Jim Molan was a Liberal party senate candidate for New South Wales.

However, in what former prime minister Tony Abbott called a "tragedy for our country and for our party", Jim Molan failed to be elected.

In February 2018, it was revealed that Jim Molan shared, on his personal Facebook page in March 2017, anti-Muslim content from the far-right political party Britain First.

Jim Molan refused to apologise for his sharing of this material.

Jim Molan was a member of the centre-right faction of the Liberal Party.

In November 2018, Jim Molan polled the third-highest number of votes in the Liberal Party's Senate preselection ballot for the 2019 federal election.

Jim Molan was disappointed at being relegated to a low-priority position on the official Coalition NSW Senate ticket and spoke of being unable to defend the Liberal Party after the decision.

In May 2019, during the Australian Federal election campaign, a row broke out affecting both the Liberal Party and the National Party when Jim Molan began an independent campaign to be elected, not supported by the Liberal Party.

However, on 10 November 2019, Jim Molan was selected by the NSW Liberal Party to fill the casual vacancy left by the resignation of Senator Arthur Sinodinos.

Jim Molan was appointed by a joint sitting of the NSW Parliament on 14 November 2019, and served the remainder of Sinodinos's six-year term, which expired in June 2022.

Jim Molan was re-elected at the 2022 federal election for a six-year term starting on 1 July 2022.

Jim Molan published his opinion on matters related to his expertise, and gave interviews and speeches to recount his experiences.

Jim Molan, son of Andrew Jim Molan, a World War II veteran, and Noni, was born in Melbourne on 11 April 1950.

Jim Molan was married to Anne and they had three daughters and a son.

One of their daughters, Erin Jim Molan, is a media personality and was a presenter of the rugby league television program The Footy Show.

On 5 April 2021, Jim Molan announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and that he would be taking leave from the Senate to undergo further testing and treatment.