Politicians of every colour will attend the funeral of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching in Melbourne on Monday as the row over her death continues to rage on.
Among the mourners at St Patrick’s Cathedral will be Labor ‘mean girls’ Penny Wong, Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher, along with Labor leader Anthony Albanese and former leader Bill Shorten.
The senator, 52, died two weeks ago of a suspected heart attack, sparking claims about her treatment by the trio of female senior Labor members.
Senator Wong has since admitted she said ‘insensitive’ things to Senator Kitching before her death, but denied bullying the former powerbroker.
Senator’s Kitching’s heartbroken husband Andrew Landeryou will be joined by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Defence Minister Peter Dutton, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, Attorney-General Michaelia Cash and Finance Minister Simon Birmingham at the funeral.
The funeral of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching will take place on Monday, two weeks after she died of a heart attack at the age of 52
Labor Senator Penny Wong (right) has rubbished claims she and fellow ‘mean girls’ Katy Gallagher (left) and Kristina Keneally (right), bullied Kimberley Kitching in the months leading to her fatal heart attack
Mourners will also include former ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Victorian Premier Dan Andrews.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his thoughts were with Senator Kitching’s family, but indicated Mr Albanese had questions to answers about the senator’s treatment in parliament.
‘The Labor Party and Anthony Albanese in particular has been very quick to throw stones, very quick to make accusations,’ he told Brisbane radio station 4BC.
‘When (Anthony Albanese) has to deal with the same issues in his own house, well, he shuts up shop and gets into the basement.’
Mr Morrison said the opposition leader had dismissed the claims about Senator Kitching’s treatment, and that he had to address them.
‘These are not things that have happened a long time ago, these are things that have just happened within weeks,’ he said.
‘It is up to (Anthony Albanese) to address these things and take them seriously at the moment.’
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Defence Minister Peter are expected to be among mourners at the funeral for Labor senator Kimberley Kitching
Victoria Premier Dan Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will attend the funeral service at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral
Labor frontbencher Mark Butler said Senator Kitching’s funeral should be a day to celebrate her life and not to bring up divisive issues .
‘Today of all days is not to go into a number of the claims being made and things being said over recent days,’ he told ABC Radio.
‘Today is a day for the people who knew Kimberley to get around each other, hug each other and celebrate an extraordinary life that was ended far too early.’
Former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks is also expected to be present at today’s ceremony, alongside Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy and his deputy David Southwick.
Other Federal Liberals will include Katie Allen, Kevin Andrews, Slade Brockman, Jonathon Duniam, Nicolle Flint, Andrew Hastie, Sarah Henderson, Greg Mirabella, James Paterson, Zed Seselja, Dave Sharma, Amanda Stoker, David Van and Tim Wilson.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his thoughts were with Senator Kitching’s family, but said Anthony Albanese had questions to answers about the senator’s treatment in parliament
Anthony Albanese said he had received ‘no complaints’ from Senator Kitching over claims she was bullied by other women in the party
Union representatives are expected to include Health Workers Union secretary Diana Asmar, Plumbers Union’s Earl Setches, Australian Workers Union’s Ben Davies, Rail Tram and Bus Union’s Luba Grigorovitch, and CFMEU boss John Setka, according to The Australian.
Former Victorian Labor minister Adam Somyurek who is under investigation for branch-stacking, Greens senator Janet Rice and former AWU secretary Cesar Melhem are also set to be among the mourners.
On Sunday, Senator Wong rubbished claims she and her fellow ‘mean girls’ bullied Senator Kitching in the months leading up to her fatal heart attack.
She admitted telling Senator Kitching ‘if you had children you might understand why there’s a climate emergency’, but insisted it wasn’t a ‘personal attack’.
‘My motivation was to express the distress that many children feel about climate change,’ Ms Wong said.
‘But what I said was insensitive. I regret it. I apologised, as I should.’
When the Nine reporter snapped back ‘only when it became public’, Senator Wong replied: ‘She never raised it with me. We have a lot of robust exchanges, but I regret making the remark.’
Senator Wong rubbished claims she and her fellow ‘mean girls’ bullied Senator Kitching (pictured)in the months leading up to her fatal heart attack
Senator Wong lamented having to respond to rumours the day before Senator Kitching’s funeral.
‘We put out a statement that makes clear we have chosen not to respond. We haven’t done that because we’re not able to, but because we didn’t think it was the right thing to do,’ she said.
The Labor senator also denied claims that she had led the charge to kick Senator Kitching off the tactics committee over her support for Linda Reynolds following the Brittany Higgins rape allegations.
‘Politics is really hard, and people are under a lot of pressure,’ Senator Wong said.
‘I have no doubt at times we say and do things without thinking of the impact on others. We should reflect on that.’
Penny Wong defended her treatment of Kimberley Kitching in an exclusive interview with Nine’s political reporter Chris Uhlmann on Sunday
She also defended the fellow ‘mean girls’, saying there were several claims being made that were ‘not true’.
‘Katy, Kristina and I work every day to try and further the interests of the Labor Party and the country. We’ve spent years in public life seeking to promote women,’ Senator Wong said.
‘There are views that are being shared and claims that are being made, which are not true.’
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten has suggested the Senator Kitching was stressed about her pre-selection for her Victorian Senate seat.
But Senator Farrell, who counted himself as a close friend of the late senator, said there was no reason for her to have felt that way.
‘I don’t think there was any prospect at all of her losing her pre-selection, to be perfectly honest,’ Senator Farrell told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.
‘She was supposed to call me the day she died to talk about that and I was certainly of the view that she would be re-endorsed, there was no other candidate I don’t believe to replace her.’
Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he received ‘no complaints’ from Senator Kitching over claims she was bullied by other women in the party.
‘I received no complaints (from Kimberley) at any time,’ he said.
‘That is just a fact. That is not to say that, of course, from time to time in politics, it’s a competitive business [and] one where I think we could all be kinder to each other… within the Parliament, within our own parties, and across the aisle, and I would always urge people to do so.’
Mr Albanese also rejected reports Senator Kitching was ‘scared’ of the ALP leader.
‘That is just not true. Kimberley and I travelled together, have a look at the photos from the trip,’ he said.
Mr Albanese was referring to a delegation he led to Taiwan that included Senator Kitching.
‘She was vivacious, she was the life of the room she was in. And it is tragic to think that she has departed far too soon,’ he said.
The tense exchange came as bombshell texts emerged showing Senator Kitching messaged a friend about Senator Wong the night before she lodged a bullying complaint.
‘Wong has been bad,’ the message obtained by The Australian reads. ‘She would love to never see me again.’
Senator Kimberley Kitching sent a text message to a close friend saying that Senator Penny Wong never wanted to see her again the night before she lodged bullying claims (Pictured, mock-up text)
Kitching sent the text late at night on the November 4 last year. The next day she lodged her bullying complaint to Deputy Leader Richard Marles.
Senator Kitching had earlier met with Mr Marles in June where she told him she believed she was being ‘frozen out’ by the Senate leadership team and claimed to have been unfairly dumped from the tactics committee meetings.
The situation was reportedly never resolved.
Former Labor MP Emma Husar has also claimed bullying within the party, claiming it caused her so much stress she too developed a heart condition.
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