Labor Senate candidate Jana Stewart to replace Kimberley Kitching

Jana Stewart will replace the late Kimberley Kitching’s Senate spot next week.

The Senate spot held by the late Kimberley Kitching will be filled by replacement Jana Stewart next week, with the candidate to be sworn in prior to the election.

It comes as Labor nominations have opened for the state seat of Pascoe Vale.

Ms Stewart, who has previously run for Kooyong and a former deputy secretary at the Department of Justice, has been selected to fill the Victorian Senate vacancy previously occupied by Ms Kitching.

Jana Stewart. Picture: Facebook

Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching.

Although the federal election is just days away, she is expected to be sworn in through a sitting at state parliament before the campaign process has started.

The announcement means that there is an opening for a Labor candidate in Pascoe Vale, which Ms Stewart had originally intended to run for at the November state election.

Nominations have now been opened and a candidate will be voted on by the party’s national executive.

Last year, Moreland deputy mayor Lambros Tapinos nominated for the seat alongside Robert Larocca, a chief of staff for Corrections Minister Natalie Hutchins.

Mr Tapinos is currently expected to be the lead candidate if he chooses to nominate.

Senators pay emotional tribute to Kitching

Senators from across the political divide have made heartfelt and emotional tributes to Kimberley Kitching, a “great Australian patriot”, as her husband Andrew Landeryou, family and friends watched.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong, who was at the centre of Senator Kitching’s alleged mistreatment, acknowledged that many people were “hurting”.

“I understand that grief and loss can be so profound that it can provoke anger and blame,” Senator Wong said.

“I’ve made my views very clear outside of this place about some of that misplaced anger and blame. I will not ­return anger with anger or blame with blame.”

Another senator dubbed a “mean girl” by Senator Kitching, Kristina Keneally, said she was “not manipulated by others in her career, beliefs or her passions”.

Close friend, NSW Labor senator Deb O’Neill, who shared touching tributes from Senator Kitching’s staff, urged the party to seek “respectful disagreement rather than torrid taunting”.

Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who did not get a winnable spot on the ­coalition’s NSW ticket, said Senator Kitching’s death had made her ­realise the factional warfare was not worth the toll on health and family.

“The concept of mean girls is not confined to one political party,” she said tearfully.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne also proposed a memorial for senators who died in office with a photographic gallery or white roses in the garden. In a touching tribute, white roses, Senator Kitching’s favourites, were placed on her empty chair.

Originally published as Labor Senate candidate Jana Stewart to replace Kimberley Kitching