‘Nobody’s girl’ is in the limelight, but does she still love the sound of her own voice?

Senator Kristina Keneally in the Senate Chamber Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Angst in the ALP, Simon Benson, The Australian, Friday:

Internal Labor rumblings are emerging over Kristina Keneally’s handling of the home affairs portfolio after the senator was accused of unilat­erally breaking bipartisan conventions on national security.

Sensitive soul, John Rolfe, Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph, September 21:

Keneally is acutely sensitive about her past and the characters that fill it. This is illustrated by an anecdote from her time as a presenter on Sky News. Keneally joined the network in 2014. Shows she presented bombed ... In 2017, her time as NSW premier returned to the news after corrupt minister Eddie Obeid challenged his conviction for wilful misconduct in public office ... “When Obeid filed that appeal, Kristina disappeared for a week,” said a person who worked at Sky at the time ... “We all reckoned that she simply didn’t want to be confronted with it on air. She would get indignant if you ever raised Obeid.”

The Sydney Morning Herald, December 4, 2009:

In a defiant press conference yesterday morning, Nathan Rees said any challenger to his leadership would “be a puppet of Eddie Obeid and Joe ­Tripodi’’.  But when the opposition repeated the suggestion in question time, Keneally responded: ‘’I am nobody’s puppet, I am nobody’s protege, I am nobody’s girl.’’

Election is in Labor’s bag, Anne ­Davies, The Guardian Australia website, December 16, 2017:

As Kristina Keneally stood triumphantly hands aloft with opposition leader Bill Shorten in a sea of red T-shirt-wearing volunteers (after she lost the Bennelong by-election) at the Ryde Club, there was a sense of jubilation and a hint that Keneally was auditioning for something greater ... “If this result was replicated in a general election, we would see 24 to 28 seats. It would mean a Labor Bill Shorten as our prime minister,” Ken­eally said ... For Shorten it was a chance to paint the reality of a win when the federal election is held. “I have no doubt we will form government and we will form a government that governs for the middle and working class, not for the top end of town.”

Not KK’s fault, Peter van Onselen, The Australian, May 31:

It’s funny how the problems with NSW Labor during its many years in government under premiers Bob Carr, Morris Iemma and Nathan Rees have all of a sudden become the sole fault of Kristina Keneally ... Yes, she took Labor to a historic defeat in 2011, but did anyone seriously think any other result was on the cards?

Paul Karp, The Guardian Australia website, October 13:

Keneally has warned that the window to bring home Australians held in prisons and camps in northern Syria is closing, arguing that the government has a moral duty to repatriate (Islamic State) women and children

Peter Dutton talks to Ray Hadley on 2GB, August 8:

Kristina Keneally’s words don’t mean much because she just doesn’t stop talking. While she loves the sound of her own voice, I’m not sure other ­people do. You need to be serious, particularly in these portfolios ... It’s not even worth responding to some of the garbage that she puts out.

Samantha Maiden, The New Daily, June 2:

Keneally said she had always supported boat turnbacks, despite Peter Dutton’s claims she opposed the tactic ... She promised to apply “a blowtorch” to Dutton’s administration of the portfolio.