Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This morning Senator Kimberley Kitching would have been at our regular Wednesday morning meeting of the full committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. She would have been, I imagine, as always, well read. She would have read all the briefs and she would have certainly had a pile of questions, very thoughtful questions, to ask after the presentation from whoever our special guests were for the day. Her absence this morning was a reminder to us all just how fragile and unpredictable life is.

I saw Kimberley for the last time on 5 March, when we attended the Australia India Business Council gala dinner. I had recently been invited to join the advisory board of the Australia India Business Council, and Kimberley had a long-term association with the council. It was a very enjoyable evening at the Fox Classic Car Collection venue in Melbourne, and Kimberley was one of the keynote speakers. She spoke eloquently and meaningfully about the importance of the Australia-India relationship, particularly its significance around the issues of trade and national security and the importance of both Australia and India as emerging powers in our Asia-Pacific region. These were areas that Kimberley had a very deep interest in and a prolific knowledge of.

Many of our colleagues have spoken of her interest in foreign affairs and national security and her deep interest in the pursuit of human rights issues and democracy. I had the opportunity to witness firsthand in the time that we spent together as members of the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee this abiding interest and awareness.

We both also served on the Human Rights Subcommittee, and I witnessed there, also firsthand, her passion in pursuing the Magnitsky legislation. It was during this period that I got to know her better. I admittedly came to be very impressed by many of her qualities, especially her intellect and her worldliness. These are qualities that have been spoken about widely because they really are qualities and attributes that marked and defined Kimberley Kitching. They are qualities that are much needed up here in this place, qualities that give depth and meaning to issues that are of domestic and national importance and qualities that allow for meaningful debate, even where there are differences of opinion. I can assure you, Deputy Speaker, Kimberley and I did have a different perspective on some issues, one of which was the issue of Palestine and Israel. Both of us held passionately different perspectives.

In this place, where I believe over 90 percent cent of our colleagues are monolingual, Kimberley Kitching was multilingual—or polyglossi, as we say in Greek. She spoke French, Italian, Spanish, English and Latin, and I believe she had some Russian and German. As a bilingual person myself, Greek being my other language, I was thoroughly appreciative of Kimberley's multilingual talents not only because they were indicators of an ability to engage with different cultural nuances but also because I know that being able to speak other languages opens your mind to the wonders of the world and its many cultures. It broadens understanding and fosters tolerance and makes for an excellent ambassador to the world, which Kimberley Kitching no doubt was. On all those trips she had taken abroad as a member of the Australian Senate, she would have impressed those that she met. I have no doubt about that. That itself would have been a real boost for Australia.

In fact, I witnessed the impact of this ability to impress our foreign dignitaries here in Canberra. Some years ago Kimberley and I were at a function at the residence of the then Moroccan Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Karim Medric. I introduced Kimberley to Karim, and she responded immediately to him in the French language. I was impressed and so was His Excellency. They then continued their conversation and interaction in the French language, and although I only have the obligatory high-school French, which is probably only a few words now, I could hear the fluency and the perfect intonation as she spoke in the French language. I was so impressed to discover this about Kimberley that, of course, I had to ask her how and why this was possible. She then went on to tell me about her schooling in France and elsewhere around the world, and we all know a lot more about that now.

Kimberley's sudden passing at such a young age is a tragic reminder that, here in this place, we don't pause enough to get to know our colleagues and to learn more about them. My last conversation with Kimberley was varied. It included the forthcoming election, but more so it was about the Australia-India relationship and, all the way through, we took time to speak about the vintage cars in the collection that surrounded us at that venue. I was looking forward to working with Kimberley on the Australia India Business Council because, apart from my own engagement on foreign affairs issues, my interest in this also relates to my own electorate where we've settled large numbers of migrants from India and the subcontinent. As a Victorian senator, Kimberley was very active in her engagement with our local diverse communities with which she herself had a very strong relationship, including with the emerging Nepalese community. I often wonder now how long it would have taken her—if she hadn't started already—to begin learning the Nepali language or even Hindi because she certainly had that gift.

It also makes you wonder how much more she would have achieved because she was capable of so much more, as reflected in her fine achievements thus far, including the Magnitsky Human Rights Award. It is therefore fitting that our party, the Labor Party, has chosen to honour her with the Kimberley Kitching Human Rights Award.

As I left on that night of 5 March, the last words Kimberley and I exchanged were making an agreement to meet up at the Psarakos brothers in High Street, Thornbury, for a cup of coffee, and I was to buy her a jar of Cretan thyme honey. She had discovered the delicious beauty of this honey known to me, of course, since childhood, and I promised to buy her a jar of the best thyme honey ever. That following Thursday I learnt of her passing. The shock was greater still because I had seen her only five days before, elegantly dressed as always for the occasion and, as our female host of the night remarked on that night, where she was so full of life, so learned, so aware and so engaging.

Death is such a final and cruel blow. In extinguishing a life, it steals potential. Kimberley was too young to die. She had so much more to offer and many mountains still to conquer. To her family—her parents, Bill and Leigh, and her brother, Ben—my condolences. Your loss is immense. To her husband, Andrew, who will feel the burden of her loss beyond what can ever be imagined, may the memory of your life together give you comfort and strength. Andrew, as I promised Kimberley that jar of honey, I hope to be able to give it to you in her memory. Vale, Senator Kimberley Kitching.

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