Kimberley Kitching stood apart from the ‘useful idiots’
Kimberley Kitching’s husband, Andrew Landeryou, lauded her for showing better moral judgment than the ‘cantankerous cabal’ that opposed her.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten has issued a rallying call to his party, urging them to unite on election eve in an emotional farewell to his friend and colleague Kimberley Kitching.
And the late senator’s husband, Andrew Landeryou, lauded his wife at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, saying she had better moral judgment than the “cantankerous cabal” that opposed her.
“She exemplified the courage and creativity that we all say we want from candidates for public office but on all sides we too often shun both, favouring useful idiots, obedient nudniks and bland time-servers,” he said.
“I’m so proud that Kimberley was a shining beacon of what could and what should be in our public life.”
Mr Landeryou said his wife was “willing to endure internal hostility in order to shift the needle in debate”, referring to Belt and Road initiatives and the Port of Darwin.
Mr Shorten, a close ally of Senator Kitching, said she would want her colleagues to come together and fight to ensure a Labor victory at the federal election, expected to be held in May.
“This is not a political speech but I am of Labor and Kimberley was of Labor,” he said. “I know if she were here with us still, her energy and activism and enthusiasm and the powerful force of her personality would have been dedicated to a Labor victory in May.
“I believe Kimberley would want everyone in her Labor family to channel their grief, to gather their strength and move onwards from here together in the pursuit of that goal.
“The Kimberley that I know and honour would try and help us all make sense of today. She would say that there was a time for coming together and a time to heal.”
The funeral ended with an extraordinary guard of honour of politicians, diplomats and political figures – from Anthony Albanese to former prime minister Tony Abbott – lining Cathedral Place as her casket was driven slowly from the service, her family walking behind.
Mr Shorten said Senator Kitching’s sudden heart attack on March 10 had left a hole in his life and that of his wife and three children.
He remembered her “beating Labor heart” and fierce scrutiny of the Morrison government, to which she put nearly 12,000 questions on notice.
Political enemies set their differences aside to mourn her loss. On the Liberal side, Mr Abbott, Defence Minister Peter Dutton and other Liberal party members including Andrew Hastie, Amanda Stoker, James Paterson and Dave Sharma attended.
Victorian Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger, Mr Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin and columnist Andrew Bolt all turned up to celebrate the senator’s life.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce attended along with Emergency Management Minister Bridget McKenzie.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson also came to the service.
From Labor, the Opposition Leader went to the funeral as did Richard Marles, Tony Burke, Tanya Plibersek, Don Farrell, Mark Dreyfus and Michelle Rowland.
CFMEU boss John Setka attended the service, as did Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and state Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.
Mr Landeryou took aim at a “cantankerous cabal” of Labor Party members who treated his wife poorly before her death at 52.
“Of course there is a lot I could say about the unpleasantness of a cantankerous cabal – not all of them in parliament – that was aimed at Kimba,” he said.
“And the intensity of it did baffle and hurt her.
“But I hope it is sufficient to say she deserved so very much better. The truth is that the vast majority of the Labor family was welcoming and supporting and encouraging and admiring of Kimberley, and they told her so often.”
After commending Senator Kitching’s moral courage and describing her “big plans” to one day be Australia’s defence or foreign minister, Mr Landeryou said he did not intend to lecture the many MPs in attendance about being nice in politics.
“I’m not going to stand here in this place and blame any one person, or any one meeting or any campaign of unpleasantness,” he said.
“Her friends and ferociously loyal staff are angry about how she was treated. I have no quarrel with them about that. They know what they saw with their own eyes.”
There was an extraordinary show of bipartisan support for the senator of just six years at her funeral, after she died suddenly.
Labor senators Penny Wong, Katy Gallagher and Kristina Keneally all attended the funeral despite facing allegations they ostracised Senator Kitching from the party which friends later said exacerbated her health issues and stress.
She referred to the three women as the “mean girls”, and made two bullying complaints in the second half of last year.
One was to deputy Labor leader Richard Marles and another to external consultants.
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