Labor Senator Penny Wong denies bullying colleague Kimberley Kitching following ‘mean girls’ claim

Senator Penny Wong says she didn’t bully a colleague who died of a heart attack – but apologised for the pain caused by an “insensitive” remark.

Labor Senate leader Penny Wong has denied allegations that she bullied her late colleague Kimberley Kitching – and says she only found out about the claims when they were made public.

Speaking on Channel 9’s Today, Senator Wong denied she had told Senator Kitching “well, if you had children, you might understand why there is a climate emergency” in precisely those words.

“They’re not precisely the words I said,” Senator Wong said.

“My motivation in that exchange wasn’t to personally attack her. My motivation was to stress what many children feel about climate change.

“But what I said was insensitive, and I regret it. I apologised, as I should, when I became aware how she felt about it.”

Senator Kitching was unable to have children and reportedly upset by Senator Wong’s comment.

When quizzed further about the effect on colleagues of aggressive questioning in parliamentary committees, Senator Wong replied “politics is hard and people are under enormous pressure”.

Senator Kitching’s friends have claimed that the stress she suffered from alleged bullying by Labor colleagues she dubbed “the mean girls” contributed to her fatal heart attack earlier this month.

Friends of late Senator Kimberley Kitching say she felt bullied by Labor colleagues including Senator Penny Wong.

Senator Wong said those allegations were never privately raised with her.

“As I said in my statement ... I was conscious of how people in my life and beyond would hear that, and I want to say again publicly I regret the pain it has caused other people,” she said.

Penny Wong said she believes politicians should be held to a “common standard around behaviour” and doesn’t think “any party is perfect”.

“We have made many changes both in terms of getting more women into parliament and ensuring we have much better processes in place that weren’t in place when I first went into parliament,” she said.

“Now we have a bullying code of conduct. We have compliance mechanisms that people can engage in and they are well known.”

Senator Kitching’s funeral will be held on Monday and Senator Wong will attend.

“Kimberley Kitching was an extraordinary politician. She was fiercely committed to the things in which she believed. She was relentless in pursing them,” she said.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has rejected calls for an inquiry into the treatment of Senator Kitching in the lead-up to her death, instead backing the women accused of bullying her.