Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The nation, the Senate and the ALP all lost a star on 10 March, with the untimely passing of Senator Kitching. Her staff lost a great boss—staff who were a great reflection of the senator's personal disposition. The office was truly a team—Team Kitching. The loss must be keenly felt by them, and I am pleased the Special Minister of State is looking after them in relation to their immediate futures. Senator Kitching's family has lost a warm human being, and Senator Kitching's husband has lost his soulmate. That loss is unspeakable, but shattering and severely dislocating. He will remain in my prayers. It's a very tough road. May God be his strength in these dark days, which will remain for a considerable time. However, people of faith can look forward with hope to genuinely meeting again, a hope which helps to buoy and sustain in the inevitable loneliness which will follow.

The loss of Senator Kitching leaves a hole in our body politic here in Australia and also on the world stage. Having 'welcomed'—and for the purposes of Hansard, please put that in inverted commas—Kimberley Kitching's arrival in the Senate with certain observations just a few short years ago, today I unreservedly pay tribute to the life and public contribution of a friend. As is the wont in life, one meets people with preconceived ideas. Sometimes those preconceptions are found to be deficient; we can be disappointed, betrayed or surprised. No need for me to say that, with Senator Kitching, I was surprised. While we never did reconcile or resolve our differing views on matters of the Registered Organisations Commission, which we would often robustly express in this place—undoubtedly for our mutual benefit and edification!—we didn't allow that uncomfortable start and issue to set the tone of our working together in a host of areas. I was Senator Kitching's loyal deputy chair, as I kept reminding her, of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade References Committee, and she would remind me of her status as my loyal deputy of the counterpart legislation committee. Indeed, our last text message exchange was only one week before her untimely death. She had sought a favour for an extension of time, and my response was simply, 'Your wish is my command', to which she responded, 'With thanks'. At the time of receiving—courtesy, might I add, of Senator Fierravanti-Wells—the devastating news of Senator Kitching's passing, I had actually locked myself away at home and was reading her draft report on Afghanistan. I was on the very final page of her report. After having read the text message of Senator Fierravanti-Wells advising me of the news, I looked back down on the page and saw 'Senator Kimberley Kitching, Chair'. And I must say that that moment will remain forever imprinted in my memory. It was a particular honour, very shortly thereafter, to be able to pay tribute to her that evening on the Paul Murray Live program.

Senator Kitching was a fellow Wolverine, a fellow member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, and, to use our terminology, my loyal deputy of the Australia-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group, Israel being the only democratic country in the Middle East. She was also a friend of the democratic and freedom-loving people of Taiwan. It was a privilege to work with a senator so committed to the principles, values and benefits of our liberal democratic system, a colleague who had the strength, character and backbone to stand up and advocate for these principles, even when the naysayers were at their ugliest. Senator Kitching was willing to call out duplicity and cowardliness. She was a true patriot, realising leadership is to be founded on rock-solid, timeless values, not on passing fads. She knew history; she did her homework. Senator Kitching understood the issues. She displayed wisdom and long-term insight.

Unpopular as it was—and still is, in some quarters—Senator Kitching stood up for the right of Israel to exist in secure borders, something which her party was in fact instrumental in helping to establish. She understood the pure evil of barbarous dictatorships which held one million of their citizens in concentration camps, and she was willing to call it out. She was not one to turn a blind eye; that was not her way. Senator Kitching's advocacy for Magnitsky legislation was something for which all Australians and, in particular, the world's oppressed can be thankful. We both advocated the cause in our respective parties. It was a real pleasure to work with her on that issue. Her speech in support of the legislation was an absolute stand-out and is well worth a read for everybody.

In our many private conversations—which I believe are inappropriate to divulge, but the exception proves the rule, and I'm sure Kimberley wouldn't mind me saying this—I often opined to her that the one thing that concerned me about her was that it was people like Kimberley that gave the Labor Party a good name. Senator Kitching's beguiling smile and the odd cup of coffee for the chair at estimates hearings ensured we ran a pretty good ship. It was just others, from our own sides, that let us down on the odd occasion.

Much has been said today—all deserved, all appropriate and all insightful—in celebrating a wonderful contributor whose contribution has been cruelly cut short for reasons we struggle to fathom and to understand. To Labor: well done on selecting Kimberley Kitching as a senator. Who ever would have thought I would be saying that, after my 'welcome' to her to the Senate? Labor did itself proud. To future Labor senators: you could do worse than style yourself on Senator Kitching. To her staff: you've lost a great boss in your life. If you ever become a boss, be like her. To her parents: thanks for giving Australia such a wonderful individual. Kimberley has done you proud. The devastation of personally having to farewell a child must be excruciatingly painful. To husband Andrew: thank you for lending Kimberley to our nation, to the world stage and to the cause of freedom, democracy and liberty. Not only did you lend her to the service of such great causes but you also gave her 100 per cent support, which I know she personally cherished and which empowered her. As you mourn the loss of your beloved, be assured of my personal empathy and sympathy. It was a privilege and an enriching experience to have known her. It is a personal and sad blow to have to farewell her—a colleague and friend, and a patriot to boot—far, far too early. May Kimberley Jane Elizabeth Kitching rest in eternal peace.