“I said,well,the biggest issue is the election and Senate positions. I moved[a motion] that the Right[faction] supports Kimberley and it was seconded by Diana[Asmar],” Mr Setches toldThe Ageand theHerald.
“The other three said ‘no’ and that it would be decided by the national executive. I said it was the Victorian Right that tells national executive who to vote for. It was plain and obvious they weren’t supporting Kimberley and they would be telling national executive to replace her with someone else.
“Diana was very angry. She said ‘you’re joking,how can you not support Kimberley? She’s a star and her performance in the Senate is exceptional’.”
Ms Asmar is also threatening a High Court challenge against the party to overturn the federal takeover of Victorian Labor and sources said the looming court case meant factional leaders were unwilling to offer support for Ms Asmar’s preferred candidate.
While the leaders failed to support Senator Kitching in the meeting,it is not clear that they planned to ultimately dump her. The faction bosses were not believed to have an opposing candidate in mind and multiple Right faction sources said the main reason Senator Kitching’s endorsement was being held up was because the Left faction had not yet decided on the future of Senator Kim Carr. These sources said it was probable Senator Kitching would eventually be endorsed with the support of figures in the national Shop,Distributive and Allied Employees Association union,which is an influential force in the national executive.
The conversation about Senate preselections was put to faction leaders without notice and sources said they may have used guarded language because no final decision had been reached,and they feared declarative statements made on the Zoom hookup could be leaked.
The positions of Senator Kitching and her Victorian colleague in the Senate Mr Carr were becoming increasingly tenuous as the election drew closer,given senators are usually endorsed many months out from an election. Senator Carr may face a threat from within his Left faction.
Senator Kitching was on the losing side of the recent factional war in the Victorian Labor Party. Her party grouping,the Health Workers Union,was aligned with state MP Adem Somyurek,the dumped former powerbroker who dominated the Victorian branch.
Supporters of Ms Kitching are expected to try and install a replacement from within their party grouping.
Speaking on ABC Melbourne,Bill Shorten said stress about “back room” machinations harmed Senator Kitching.
“I am not a coroner. I can’t tell you why this woman of 52 was taken from us. But I have no doubt that the stress of politics in the machinations in the back rooms had its toll,” he said.
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“She’s a very strong person. She could give as good as she could get. But you take it away,you take it all home with you don’t you? And that’s not just a politician. It doesn’t matter what line of work politics isn’t special in that way,but it’s not different either. Stress is like invisible coats of paint. It’s got to be having its impact and she was greatly stressed.
“Yeah,there were machinations and arguments going on. That does happen. That’s not unique. But we have a woman who’s 52,who’s pulled over by the side of the road and died unexpectedly. It’s shocking. It’s terrible.”
Mr Shorten arrived at the scene of Senator Kitching’s death after her husband,Mr Landeryou,phoned him and his wife Chloe,a close friend from school.
“We sat with a couple of dear friends of Kimberley and Andrew on the side of the road as we waited for the undertaker’s van to turn up,”Mr Shorten said.
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Ms Kitching was the Australian co-chair of theInter-Parliamentary Alliance on China,a cross-party organisation consisting of MPs from around the world united in their stance that governments take a tougher line on China.
When she entered Parliament,Senator Kitching ferociously campaigned for aMagnitsky Act so that Australia could join its allies – the United Kingdom,United States and Canada – in imposing sanctions on human rights violators.
Businessman Bill Browder,who spearheaded the global movement for human rights-based sanctions,led the tributes. The Act wasnamed after Browder’s tax adviser Sergei Magnitsky,who was persecuted and killed by the Russian regime.
“Losing Kimberley is a terrible tragedy for her family,her friends,Australia and the world,” Mr Browder said.
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