Kitching believed Labor senator was ordered to monitor her: Liberal MP
The late Labor senator said a Labor colleague, Tim Ayres, had been seated next to her in the Senate and placed on committees to check she followed party policy.
A meeting of a Senate Finance and Public Finance committee hearing in October, 2019. Labor senator Tim Ayres is on the far left. Senator Kimberley Kitching is seated on his left. She told a Liberal MP Ayres had been placed on the committee to monitor her behaviour. Parlview
Senator Kimberley Kitching thought she was being watched. Not by the Chinese government, of which she was a critic. Nor by Coalition MPs or right-wing media commentators, with whom she had formed professional friendships.
The monitoring was from her own side, which didn’t trust her. Kitching, a Victorian Labor MP who died on March 10, complained that Labor colleague Tim Ayres had been placed on two parliamentary committees with her, one that monitored government administration and another on foreign affairs and defence policy. Ayers was also assigned to sit next to her in the second row of the Senate chamber.
