Lack of security strategy makes you feel very angry

Anger and resentment reign as the government continues to not listen to those who have much to say about the security of our nation, writes Erin Molan.

Our governments have failed us, successively, time after terrifying time. The most critical responsibility of any government is the safety of its people.

They know there’s no point having cost of living sorted, enough housing and shelter and social cohesion, if we are dead or at risk of armed conflict.

I’ve said and written this too often in recent times to keep count, so yes, today is groundhog day. But now I’m no longer just concerned, I’m angry.

I’m angry that we are in this position as a country.

I’m angry that people who understood the threat and situation were ignored over and over and over.

I’m angry the person at the top of that list was my dad, Retired Major-General and Senator Jim Molan.

I’m angry he was treated appallingly by those who should have listened, reflected and acted.

I’m angry that it’s too late for his wisdom, passion and commitment to this country to make a difference moving forward.

I’m angry that we don’t have him anymore as we face the greatest threat to our safety and stability in nearly 80 years. Dad was the most experienced fighting general we had in this country.

He had run wars. He was the Chief of Operations for the United States and Coalition Forces in Iraq. He was part of an inner circle of US Generals and civilian leadership at the helm of the most powerful and influential nation on earth.

The security of our nation remains in jeopardy because of the lack of a cohesive strategy.

He should have been our greatest resource. I’m not saying that Dad was perfect nor am I saying that we should have blindly followed or acted upon everything he said but we should have, at the very least, listened more attentively.

Dad became borderline obsessed with developing a national security strategy (NSS) at the back end of his life because he knew how much it mattered and how inadequately prepared we were for what was to come.

Notably, this was before the latest development in the war in the Middle East — the global situation is a lot more precarious now.

He begged government to be given the opportunity to develop an NSS, much to the annoyance of many of those around him who didn’t think it mattered or that it mattered less than, say, escalating interest rates – well, we got them anyway.

He saw first-hand what evil looked like and how it acted and he was charged with trying to defeat it. He was aware that not only did we not have the weaponry to repel or deter threats as a stand-alone nation but that, even if we did, our supply of fuel was so pitifully compromised that we wouldn’t be able to effectively utilise an arsenal of any size.

Dad is this country’s most individually voted-for politician. The people of this country had listened to him talk about defence and national security for years and they believed and trusted him. He cut through.

He took complex issues and made them easy to understand. He was able to explain to everyday Australians why this mattered and matter it does.

Pity some of his colleagues didn’t feel the same. I used to get so upset when he’d tell me some of the ways he was treated during his time in Parliament. All he ever wanted to do was serve this nation.

He did it in uniform for nearly 40 years but most of his attempts to do it in a suit were stifled. Dad had a healthy ego — absolutely — but what drove him was a love for this country like no other and a fierce determination to do whatever he could to keep it safe.

Former army major-general Jim Molan at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

If a NSS had been taken seriously then we’d be far better off than we are now. This isn’t bitterness by the way, this is genuine disdain that our country has gone backwards as we hit peak panic. America is our greatest ally but have you read the international headlines lately?

Joe Biden is one of the worst US Presidents in history when it comes to foreign policy, he’s also in steep cognitive decline and was last week described as an “elderly man with a bad memory” in a special counsel report.

The enemies of the free world have already shown complete disdain for his leadership. They laugh at America.

If Donald Trump wins power then, yes, America will be strengthened in some respects but will Australia still be able to ride their coattails?

Trump is notoriously an isolationist and believes, rightly so, that other countries need to pull their weight and not rely totally on the US – he sees paying lip service to treaty and alliance obligations for what it is, especially when it’s backed up by a token allocation of resources to a peripheral military facility.

Like Ukraine, he wants to see more nations lifting rather than leaning. He’s serious too, having just confirmed that he’d encourage Russia to attack NATO allies who weren’t doing any of the heavy lifting. That’s a terrifying prospect but what it says to us as a nation about a Trump Presidency is even scarier.

We were the greatest lifters on earth when our safety and prosperity were threatened last century – and this government developing a comprehensive, coordinated and contemporary national security strategy would go a long way towards ensuring that we shall be again when, not if, we are next put to the test.