Senator Penny Wong allegedly told her late Labor colleague Kimberley Kitching ‘if you had children, you might understand’ during a heated exchange in parliament about mass climate protests.
Ms Wong made the stinging comment in 2019 after Ms Kitching argued the party shouldn’t support students who ditched school that year to attend mass climate protests, The Australian reported.
‘If you had children, you might understand why there is a climate emergency,’ the South Australian senator is said to have told Ms Kitching.
Her supporters said the comment hurt even more because Ms Kitching, who died at the age of 52 last Thursday from a suspected heart attack, wanted children but couldn’t have any.
The latest claim follows the newspaper on Wednesday branding Ms Wong and fellow senators Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher ‘mean girls’ over their treatment of Ms Kitching.
Late Labor senator Kimberley Kitching pictured right with ex-cricketer Dean Jones. She died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 52 on March 10
The report claimed Ms Kitching was accused of leaking to the Liberals, benched from the party’s tactics committee and ostracised by the senior leadership team.
A close supporter of the Victorian senator said the comment about her lack of children was ‘brutal’.
‘The children thing was particularly grotesque, it was just foul,’ the friend said.
Ex-Labor MP Michael Danby, a close friend of Ms Kitching, on Wednesday claimed her treatment by senior female members crossed a line.
‘It’s a fine line, people are entitled to fierce disagreements, but it was too much in my opinion, what was done crossed that fine line and people should say they’re sorry and they regret it,’ Mr Danby said.
Mr Danby hit out at the Labor right for ‘dangling’ her pre-selection over her head which he said had caused the politician undue stress.
He also slammed the party’s left wing for being ‘too strong’ and claimed his friend had been punished for not agreeing with other people’s ‘ideological views’.
‘What a disgrace that these people were able to cause her such stress,’ he said.
Wednesday’s report pointed to several instances of the senator being excluded from decision-making by senior party members.
Pictured left to right: Labor senators Katy Gallagher, Kristina Keneally and Penny Wong. Late Labor senator Kimberley Kitching felt ostracised by the three women, a report has claimed
Ms Kitching, 52, (pictured) died from a suspected heart attack on March 10 after complaining to her husband Andrew Landeryou
Senator Penny Wong allegedly told Ms Kitching ‘if you had children, you might understand’ during a heated debate about climate protests
Former ALP member Michael Danby said what his late friend Kimberley Kitching endured had been ‘nothing short of bullying’ during an interview with Sky News on Wednesday
Ms Kitching was also reportedly summoned to a meeting with Ms Keneally over her support for then-Liberal Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in the wake of the Brittany Higgins allegations.
The report went on to suggest the treatment she received from some colleagues had taken a toll in the lead-up to her pre-selection, and ultimately her shock death.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday described the revelations as ‘distressing’ while paying tribute to Ms Kitching.
‘These are very distressing [allegations] and I don’t think they can just be dismissed, they obviously need to be addressed,’ Mr Morrison said.
‘These reports of her treatment are not ones that I can confirm, obviously, as the leader of the Liberal party, but they’re certainly things that I would expect to be taken very seriously and addressed.
Senator Kitching is pictured with Labor Senator Kristina Keneally. Ms Kitching was reportedly summoned to a meeting with the senior senator over her support for then-Liberal Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in the wake of the Brittany Higgins allegations
‘The reason she had so many friends on our side is because she stood up very strongly for issues of our national security and sovereignty.’
It came after Anthony Albanese slammed ‘disrespectful’ reports that claimed Ms Kitching had been snubbed by the Labor ‘mean girls’.
The federal Labor leader gave terse one-word answers when questioned about those reports by Ally Langdon on the Today show on Wednesday.
He said it was disrespectful for the three female senators to be branded as mean girls after he was asked whether the ALP has a culture problem.
‘It’s astonishing in 2022 I get a question using the term ‘mean girls’,’ he told a press conference in Brisbane. I find that extraordinarily disrespectful to describe strong, articulate, principled women.’
He said senior male politicians would not be described in the same way and the term was a ‘throwback from decades ago’.
Langdon had earlier in the day left the Opposition leader near speechless as she asked him to respond to the reports about the hostility Ms Kitching faced from her three Labor colleagues in the Upper House.
‘Is there a cultural problem with senior women within the Labor Party?’ Langdon asked to which Mr Albanese simply replied ‘no’.
Anthony Albanese (pictured) on Wednesday said it was disrespectful for three female senators to be branded as mean girls after he was asked whether the ALP has a culture problem
‘No – I’m very proud of the fact I lead a team that has 50 per cent female and male contribution in my shadow cabinet,’ he finally continued.
‘I’m proud of all the people in the leadership team of the Labor party.
Mr Albanese said he respected Senator Kitching and appointed her as an assistant shadow minister when he became opposition leader.
‘Out of respect for Kimberley, I think the idea that people go into who might have had a disagreement here or there is totally unbecoming,’ he told Langdon.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) has described the revelations as ‘distressing’ while paying tribute to Ms Kitching for her service to Australian politics
‘I’m going to pay respect to Kimberley Kitching by treating her with the respect that she deserves. She made a contribution for too short a time to the Labor party and to the Labor cause.
‘Her family and friends are really hurting today.’
Senator Gallagher told the ABC ‘many’ of the assertions in the article were incorrect but refused to discuss the specifics.
‘I just don’t think it’s respectful for us to enter into commentary or disagreement of (the article) at this point in time,’ she said.
‘I don’t think it’s right.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk