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Kimberley Kitching

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Kimberley Kitching
Kitching in 2019
Senator for Victoria
In office
25 October 2016 – 10 March 2022
Preceded byStephen Conroy
Succeeded byJana Stewart
Personal details
Born
Kimberley Jane Elizabeth Kitching

(1970-02-16)16 February 1970
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Died10 March 2022(2022-03-10) (aged 52)
Strathmore, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLabor
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2000)​
RelativesBill Landeryou
(father-in-law)
Alma materUniversity of Queensland
Signature
Websitewww.kimberleykitching.com.au

Kimberley Jane Elizabeth Kitching[1] (16 February 1970 – 10 March 2022) was an Australian politician, lawyer, and trade unionist. A member of the Labor Party, she was a Senator for Victoria from October 2016 until her death.

Early life

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Kitching was born in Brisbane, the daughter of Bill and Leigh Kitching. She grew up in the suburb of St Lucia, where she was a childhood friend of Chloe Shorten. Her father was a chemistry professor and during her youth the family spent time in England, Spain, France, Germany, and the United States as her father received academic postings. Kitching completed her schooling at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and then studied arts and law at the University of Queensland. She joined Young Labor as a student.[2]

Pre-political career

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Kitching was admitted as a solicitor by the Supreme Court of Queensland. She moved to Melbourne in 1995.[2] In the private sector, she worked for LookSmart before it was listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, IQ Media (the company operated by her husband Andrew Landeryou)[3] and Drake International, where she was the head of Government and Corporate Relations.[4]

From December 2012, Kitching worked as the General Manager of the Victorian No. 1 Branch of the Health Services Union,[4][5] leaving after a few years.[6] In 2014, she was called to give evidence to the Royal Commission into trade union governance and corruption relating to her time with the Health Services Union.[1][7]

In 2015 a vice president of the Fair Work Commission found that Kitching had illegally completed testing on behalf of other union officials to gain right of entry permits.[8][9]

Political career

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Kitching was involved in Victorian Labor politics for some time, including being vice-president of the party's Victorian Branch.[4] She was a Melbourne City Councillor in the early 2000s,[10][11] and was a senior adviser to several ministries in the government of Labor premier Steve Bracks, as well as to John Lenders, the treasurer in the Brumby government.[4][12][13]

In the 2013 Australian federal election, Kitching made a bid for Labor pre-selection for the Victorian electorates of Lalor and Gellibrand. Her bid was unsuccessful due to opposition from within the party, including from Stephen Conroy.[14][3]

Senator (2016–2022)

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On 13 October 2016, Kitching won pre-selection to fill the Victorian Senate seat vacated by Stephen Conroy's resignation on 30 September.[3][15][16] Kitching's pre-selection was supported by her close friend, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, and by the Labor Right.[7][17] Shorten's support for Kitching generated tension in the party with frontbencher and former Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refusing to support her pre-selection,[18] and legal affairs spokesperson Mark Dreyfus threatening to resign from his position in the shadow cabinet, although he did not carry out the threat.[19]

Kitching was formally chosen as a replacement Senator by a joint sitting of the Parliament of Victoria on 25 October 2016, and sworn in on 7 November 2016.[20]

After the 2019 election, Kitching was included in Anthony Albanese's shadow ministry as Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability. She was also made Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.[21]

In February 2022, one month before her death, Kitching used parliamentary privilege to suggest to the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation that Chau Chak Wing was the wealthy businessman behind an alleged Chinese plot to interfere in Australian elections to install politicians sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party.[22]

Positions

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Kitching criticised the Victorian state ALP government for its support of China's global Belt and Road Initiative, saying it "should not have entered into an agreement with the Chinese government on the Belt and Road Initiative—it is bad policy and bad optics."[23] In June 2020 she was announced as a founding member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.[24] In an interview on ABC radio, she said the alliance of 13 democratic nations was to see that:

...our rules based order is protected. There’s a great desire amongst the group to examine human rights issues. I think Western liberal democracies probably hoped that China was heading down a more liberal and democratic path. But I think when President Xi became president in 2013, that became a fainter and fainter hope.[25]

As of 2022 Kitching was deputy chair of Parliamentary Friends of Israel. In February 2022, she and chair Eric Abetz issued a joint statement rejecting an Amnesty International report's "attempts to equate Israel’s efforts to the abhorrent historical practice of apartheid in South Africa".[26]

Kitching was a proponent of Magnitsky-style legislation in Australia.[27] She had introduced a private member's bill in August 2021 before the government introduced its own bill in November 2021.[28]

Personal life

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Kitching was married to Andrew Landeryou, previously a well-known political blogger; her father-in-law Bill Landeryou was a state government minister in Victoria. The couple married in 2000 after meeting at a Labor fundraising night in country New South Wales. In 2001, the couple purchased Wardlow, a heritage-listed mansion in Parkville, Melbourne. The couple separated due to financial difficulties in the mid-2000s, and Kitching filed for bankruptcy in 2005, selling Wardlow to clear her debts; the bankruptcy was annulled in 2006. They did not divorce and later resumed their relationship.[2]

Death and Aftermath

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Kitching died from a suspected heart attack in the Melbourne suburb of Strathmore, on 10 March 2022, at the age of 52.[27] Following her death, allegations emerged that Kitching had reportedly complained about bullying by Labor's Senate leadership team, consisting of Penny Wong, Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher. The leadership team denied the allegations and all were present at Kitching's funeral. Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Kitching had made no official complaint about the matter, and said he would not hold an inquiry into the claims.[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Trade Union Royal Commission - transcript 26 August 2014". Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. Commonwealth of Australia. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original (DOC) on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Knott, Matthew (2 March 2018). "Why ALP backbencher Kimberley Kitching may become a household name". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Millar, Royce; Schneiders, Ben (13 October 2016). "Shorten backs controversial lawyer Kimberley Kitching for Senate". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d Kitching, Kimberley (23 August 2014). "Witness Statement" (PDF). Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  5. ^ Schneiders, Ben; Millar, Royce (23 February 2016). "Shorten's mates drive HSU branch to the brink of insolvency". The Age. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  6. ^ Schneiders, Ben (14 October 2016). "Shorten has erred in backing new Senator Kimberley Kitching". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  7. ^ a b Hunter, Fergus; Millar, Royce; Schneiders, Ben (14 October 2016). "Coalition accuses Labor of 'union stitch-up' over Senate preselection of 'dodgy' Kimberley Kitching". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  8. ^ Kappelle, Liza (14 October 2016). "Kitching seems a union stitch up: Turnbull". news.com.au. Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  9. ^ Watson, Graeme (26 June 2015). "2015 Fair Work Commission decision regarding Health Services Union-Victoria No. 1 Branch (FWC 3359)". Fair Work Commission. Melbourne. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  10. ^ Donovan, Patrick; Boulton, Martin (8 July 2004). "Mayor thunderstruck with AC/DC". The Age. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Plot thickens! Dirty tricks! Amazing scenes! Media blackout!". Crikey. 1 July 2001. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  12. ^ Wallace, Rick (13 October 2016). "Conroy Senate vacancy: Kimberley Kitching and Diana Taylor lead field of eight". The Australian. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  13. ^ Lucas, Clay (7 January 2013). "Health union's new regime sacks old staff: Secretary seeks control on spending". The Age. Fairfax Media.
  14. ^ "Kitching to take Conroy's Vic senate spot". Australian Associated Press. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  15. ^ Henderson, Anna; Anderson, Stephanie (16 September 2016). "Stephen Conroy announces retirement; Labor colleagues caught by surprise". ABC News. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  16. ^ Dziedzic, Stephen (13 October 2016). "Stephen Conroy: Labor factional brawl ends as Kimberley Kitching replaces outgoing senator". ABC News. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  17. ^ Woodley, Naomi (18 October 2016). "Government to target Labor's Kimberley Kitching in debate over industrial relations bill". ABC News. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  18. ^ Massola, James (18 October 2016). "Anthony Albanese fails to endorse Bill Shorten's key ally Kimberley Kitching for Senate". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  19. ^ Massola, James (24 November 2016). "Mark Dreyfus threatened to resign if Bill Shorten allowed Kimberley Kitching Senate post". The Age. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  20. ^ "Controversial Labor senator sworn in". SBS. 7 November 2016.
  21. ^ "Senator Kimberley Kitching". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  22. ^ Galloway, Anthony (14 February 2022). "Labor senator names businessman as 'puppeteer' behind foreign interference plot". The Age. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  23. ^ "Victorian Treasurer's China comments spark outrage among federal colleagues". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  24. ^ Bourke, Latika (4 June 2020). "MPs from eight countries form new global coalition to counter China". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  25. ^ "The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and a trifecta of troubles in the US". ABC Radio National. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  26. ^ "'There is a form of apartheid': LNP backbencher urges PM to face facts on Israel". Guardian Australia. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  27. ^ a b "Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching dies suddenly in Melbourne aged 52". ABC News. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  28. ^ Wade, Geoff (20 August 2021). "Australia and Magnitsky legislation". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  29. ^ "Albanese insists Kitching did not officially complain about bullying". ABC News. 23 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
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