Kimberley Kitching: rights advocate charmed friend and foe

When Kimberley Kitching gave her first speech to parliament in 2016, she observed: ‘It is often the case that those with extreme views are the most motivated and animated’.

Kimberley Kitching as shadow assistant NDIS minister.

When Kimberley Kitching gave her first speech to parliament in 2016, she observed: “It is often the case that those with extreme views are the most motivated and animated — the first to show up to vote, the loudest voices in a meeting and the most aggressive in their manner, sometimes with arguments whose extreme simplicity cuts through and is superficially appealing.”

While nothing if not motivated and animated, Kitching was the opposite in almost every other respect: softly spoken with a playful, girlish, gap-toothed giggle that belied a ruthless determination to fight for her values.

Unapologetically from the Right of the Labor Party, Kitching believed the centre of politics was where “the gravitas and the responsibility” lay – putting her at odds with the ALP Left almost as often as with the Liberals and Greens.

Having been backed by close friend and then opposition leader Bill Shorten to succeed Stephen Conroy following his unexpected resignation from the Senate, Kitching’s entry into politics was far from welcomed by many within her own party.

A former lawyer, Melbourne City councillor, Bracks-Brumby government adviser and Health Services Union official who was married to controversial former blogger, bankrupt and ALP figure Andrew Landeryou, Kitching was initially dismissed by enemies inside and outside Labor as a factional hack.

Kimberley Kitching with Bill Shorten.

Her record in the Senate of standing up for a clearly articulated set of moderate Labor values, and of forensically pursuing foreign policy issues that transcended the party political divide, rapidly proved she had been monumentally underestimated.

The heartfelt tributes that have flowed not only from Labor and union movement colleagues, but from across the political spectrum and outside politics, are testament to her unrivalled ability to find common ground and meet people on their level.

There were many subjects on which their views would have been diametrically opposed, but conservative voices, from Andrew Bolt to Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton, George Brandis, Mathias Cormann, James Paterson and Andrew Hastie, and crossbenchers including Pauline Hanson, Jacqui Lambie and Rex Patrick, lined up to pay tribute after Kitching’s death from a suspected heart attack late on Thursday.

Many referenced her disarming charm, sense of mischief and intellect, while Shorten noted her staunch adherence to her own set of values: “She wouldn’t cut the cloth of her views to suit the fashion of the day,” he said.

Born in Brisbane to chemistry professor father Bill and physiotherapist mother Leigh, Kitching was in many ways a child of the world – learning six languages and living in England, Spain, France, Germany and the US before returning to complete her schooling at Brisbane Girls Grammar.

She completed arts and law degrees at the University of Queensland and met Landeryou after joining Young Labor as a student, marrying and moving to Melbourne with him in 2000.

It was her sense of herself as a patriotic Australian, but also as a global citizen, that informed her positions on foreign policy issues from the rise of China to Israel, and her championing of the Magnitsky Act.

Passed by parliament last year following similar legislation introduced in Britain, the US and Canada, the law allows Australia to impose sanctions on human rights violators.

It is named after lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was persecuted and killed by allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and was spearheaded by Magnitsky’s former employer, businessman Bill Browder.

Having honoured Kitching with the Sergei Magnitsky Human Rights Award at a ceremony in London in November, Mr Browder led a chorus of international tributes, describing her as “a true advocate of the victims of human rights abuse and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met”.

Kitching with husband Andrew Landeryou. Picture: Aaron Francis

Japanese ambassador to Australia Yamagami Shingo hailed Kitching’s “elegant and warm personality”, expressing appreciation for her friendship with Japan and “exceptional contribution to the region”.

US embassy Canberra Charge D’Affaires Michael Goldman praised her work to secure the Magnitsky Act as her “enduring legacy”.

“In every interaction with Senator Kitching two things stood out: her zeal for universal human rights and her sharp intellect,” Mr Goldman said.

Former Iran detainee Kylie Moore-Gilbert paid tribute to Kitching’s “very real contribution to something bigger than herself”, while anti-Chinese Communist Party activist Drew Pavlou said she would “go down in Australian history as one of the most courageous warriors for democracy we have ever seen”.

Kitching is survived by Landeryou, as well as by parents Bill and Leigh, and her brother, Ben.

In her first speech, she described her mother as being “a woman with many strings to her bow … (who) comes from a long line of powerful, confident women who believed nothing impossible for them. Like them, she goes about her life all the while with a twinkle in her eye” – all descriptors that were at least as true of Kitching.