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.