Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about our colleague Senator Kimberley Kitching. Others have detailed her achievements and outstanding contributions. I will not reiterate those, but I wholeheartedly support what others here today have said.

Kimba was, from the other side of the chamber, one of the people that I was probably closer to, and that was due to a combination of her own outgoing and vivacious personality and the fact of our mutual passion for the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, on which we both served. She was dedicated, passionate and extremely knowledgeable about many things, as we have heard today, and that certainly included the ADF. I enjoyed immensely our inspection tours, the last of which was last month, just two weeks and one day before she passed away, and I am incredibly glad to have had those two days to enjoy with her. It was a fantastic inspection tour. She had this ability to ask questions on our inspection visits and in our committee that were not just appropriate but insightful and showed her great knowledge of and interest in the subject at hand. She would ask questions that the rest of us hadn't thought to ask, but I was always enthralled by the information that she uncovered in asking her questions.

On a personal note: no matter what sort of day I was having, running into Kimba would always brighten it. She was vivacious, her smile infectious and, as Senator McKenzie covered, she could be somewhat mischievous and irreverent. I will miss her, and this place is poorer without her presence.