Call for apology over alleged bullying campaign after Kimberley Kitching’s death

Labor Senator Penny Wong says she thought Kimberley Kitching had accepted her apology over a “childless” slur and denies claims she bullied her colleague.

Labor’s Senate leader Penny Wong says she apologised to Kimberley Kitching for a hurtful slur about the fact that she did not have children.

But Senator Wong and her colleagues Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher – whom Senator Kitching privately dubbed the “mean girls” prior to her sudden death — argue the allegations of bullying made against them are “untrue” and “hurtful”.

Friends and colleagues of Senator Kitching are pushing for an inquiry into her treatment, with senior government minister Peter Dutton suggesting on Friday that the parliament could initiate its own probe if the Labor Party did not act.

In 2019, Senator Wong told Senator Kitching that “if you had children, you might understand” during a heated debate about student climate protests.

On Friday, Senator Wong said in a statement that she had later apologised to Senator Kitching.

“Senator Wong understood that apology was accepted,” the statement said.

“The comments that have been reported do not reflect Senator Wong’s views, as those who know her would understand, and she deeply regrets pain these reports have caused.”

Senate leader Penny Wong will attend Kimberley Kitching’s funeral. Picture: Gaye Gerard

The trio said they had chosen this week not to respond to allegations about their behaviour towards Senator Kitching “despite them not being true”.

“This has been hard, but we believed it to be the right thing to do to maintain some dignity for all concerned,” their statement said.

“Given the hurtful statements that continue to be made we feel it necessary to respond. The allegations of bullying are untrue. Other assertions which have been made are similarly inaccurate.”

“All of us have spent many years in the service of the public. We do so because we want to make a contribution to the nation.”

“Politics is a challenging profession. Contests can be robust and interactions difficult. All of its participants at times act or speak in ways that can impact on others negatively. We have and do reflect on this, as individuals and as leaders.”

All three will attend Senator Kitching’s funeral on Monday.

WONG CHANGES PLANS TO ATTEND FUNERAL

Senator Wong decided to attend Senator Kitching’s funeral after it was revealed she was instead planning to appear at political fundraiser in the Northern Territory.

On Wednesday, when asked if she would be attending the funeral in Melbourne next Monday, Senator Wong said: “I will look at whether I can. I currently have an engagement in the Northern Territory with some First Nations communities”.

After it was reported by The Australian on Thursday that she was booked to attend a Labor fundraiser on Monday evening, Senator Wong’s office said she now planned to be at the funeral to “pay her respects along with the Labor family”.

Senator Kitching’s friends have spoken of the tense relationship between the pair, particularly over the frontbencher’s refusal to support the Victorian senator’s push for a sanctions scheme targeting human rights abusers, before Senator Wong backflipped and argued for the laws.

Federal Labor senator Kimberley Kitching died of a sudden heart attack last week.

ALBANESE REFUTES ‘MEAN GIRLS’ CLAIM

On Wednesday, Labor leader Anthony Albanese angrily refuted Senator Kitching’s private criticism of her colleagues, including Senate leader Penny Wong, as “mean girls” who ostracised her in Canberra.

But several Labor figures told the Herald Sun on Thursday an inquiry into her treatment by colleagues was warranted, with MPs suggesting the party would have demanded such a probe if similar allegations were made about members of the Liberal Party.

One described Labor’s Senate leadership team as a “vindictive cabal”.

In private, Ms Kitching had referred to Labor frontbenchers Penny Wong, Katy Gallagher and Kristina Keneally as “the mean girls”, a comment first reported by The Australian on Wednesday.

Opposition spokeswoman for women Tanya Plibersek on Thursday said she had never seen any evidence that Senator Kitching had been bullied during her time in Canberra. She refused to say whether an apology was required.

“I’m just not going to get into this. We haven’t even had Kimberley Kitching’s funeral yet. I don’t think it’s appropriate to be making this into a political issue,” Ms Plibersek said.

“I absolutely want to respect the wishes of her family but I just can’t answer for the details of this and nor do I want to be talking about it at the moment.”

Former MP Michael Danby has called for an apology.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles on Thursday said he did not accept “a lot of what has been alleged in the last few days” and that the party had “worked very hard” to implement proper processes to handle complaints of bullying and harassment.

Earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he expected the “very distressing” claims about the treatment of Ms Kitching to be “taken very ­seriously” by the Labor Party.

Ms Kitching’s friends, led by former Labor leader Bill Shorten, have said the 52-year-old was under significant stress because of these internal struggles prior to suffering a heart attack last week.

She was cut out of the party’s Senate tactics committee and was rarely given a question to ask in parliament.

The Herald Sun can reveal she was also bumped off the Senate’s finance and public administration committee late last year. Former Labor MP Michael Danby said she was regularly left on the “midnight shift” in the Senate chamber as a “sort of punishment”, and that her staff were “really badly treated” by staff working for other senators.

Mr Albanese said the “mean girls” label was “extraordinarily disrespectful to describe strong, articulate, principled women” and he found it “astonishing and a throwback”.

“The idea that people go into who might have had a disagreement here or there is totally unbecoming,” he said, as he called for people to be “a bit respectful at this point in time”.

The Labor leader also sought to blame a legal challenge to the party’s federal intervention in its Victorian branch – which was supported by Ms Kitching and her ­allies – for the failure to confirm her preselection.

But Mr Danby said the treatment of Ms Kitching was “nothing short of bullying” and that senior Labor figures needed to apologise for their behaviour.

“Whether Penny Wong liked her or not was irrelevant,” he said. “She should have recognised that she had so much to contribute.”

Senators Katy Gallagher, Kristina Keneally and Penny Wong were labelled ‘mean girls’.

A Labor MP said those accused of being “mean girls” were “well known for it”, and questioned why the party was willing to talk about behavioural standards “except when some of its members are the perpetrators”.

Senators Gallagher and Keneally said many of the ­assertions being made about the treatment of Ms Kitching were untrue, and it was not ­appropriate to discuss the issue while people were grieving.

When asked why her preselection had been delayed, Mr ­Albanese pointed to the long legal battle over the federal ­intervention, saying it was “up to others to explain why that occurred”.

“There has been an ­ongoing issue of legal action and then an appeal against that legal action at substantial cost,” he said.

Ms Kitching and Mr Shorten had upset their factional rivals by privately endorsing the legal action by a series of trade unions, which they had been considering taking all the way to the High Court.

Supporters of the challenge argued it was necessary to fight for the voting rights of unions and grassroots members who were disenfranchised by the intervention.

But the legal battle did not stop Mr Albanese and the party’s national executive from finalising the preselection of Labor’s candidates in lower house seats.

Originally published as Call for apology over alleged bullying campaign after Kimberley Kitching’s death