Kristina Keneally attends an election fundraiser hours after Kimberley Kitching’s funeral

Kristina Keneally attended an election fundraiser in Melbourne just hours after Kimberley Kitching’s funeral, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.

While Senator Kitching’s heartbroken friends and family were mourning, Senator Keneally – who has denied bullying her late colleague – was wining and dining at a lavish event to raise money for Labor’s upcoming federal election campaign. 

Senator Keneally, who in 2011 led NSW Labor to a catastrophic defeat, gave a ‘keynote address’ at the event to support Abi Kumar, Labor’s candidate for the marginal Liberal seat of La Trobe.

The dinner was at event centre The Grand on Princes, half an hour drive from St Patrick’s Cathedral where Senator Keneally joined Labor and Coalition colleagues farewelling Senator Kitching until about 5.30pm.

The event ran from 6.45pm to 11pm with tickets on sale for a minimum of $53.84. 

Daily Mail Australia understands the fundraiser was scheduled before the funeral was organised. Senator Keneally’s spokeswoman declined to comment.

With just eight weeks to go until the federal election, politicians from both sides are in ‘campaign mode’ and frequently holding fundraiser events. 

Senator Keneally, who has been a senator since 2018, will contest the safe lower house seat of Fowler in western Sydney at the election in May.

The Shadow Home Affairs Minister was parachuted in at the expense of local lawyer Tu Le even though she lived 44km away in a $1.8million waterfront mansion on an island on Sydney’s northern beaches.

At Senator Kitching’s funeral on Monday, her husband delivered a stinging broadside against Labor’s ‘mean girls’ accused of bullying her.

In a powerful speech, shattered Andrew Landeryou revealed: ‘Her friends and ferociously loyal staff are angry about how she was treated’. 

He did not name Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher – who have denied ostracising Senator Kitching – but referred to a ‘cantankerous cabal’ of her detractors.

‘Kimberley’s political and moral judgement was vastly superior to the small number who opposed her internally,’ he said. 

‘And of course there is a lot I could say about the unpleasantness of a cantankerous cabal – not all of them in Parliament – that was aimed at Kimba, and the intensity of it did baffle and hurt her.

‘She deserved so very much much better.’  

A who’s who of politics – including Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton, Barnaby Joyce and Daniel Andrews – packed the St Patrick’s Cathedral in east Melbourne for the moving service at 2.30pm. 

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott also attended but Scott Morrison was up in Brisbane. 

Senator Kitching, who had friends on all sides of politics, died on March 10 after pulling over her car in suburban Melbourne during a suspected heart attack.

During the attack, Senator Kitching phoned her husband but then went silent. By the time he reached her side, she had passed away.

In a speech at the start of the service, he described her as ‘very clever, very, very pretty and well spoken’. 

‘Kimberley’s beauty and grace and elegance mesmerised me,’ he said, recalling their first meeting. 

Mr Landeryou said when he found his wife dead he found two ‘poignant’ reminders of her kindness on the passenger seat: a bottle of champagne for a dinner party that night and a pie she had bought for his lunch.  

‘Despite a frantically busy and stressful day she had taken time of all things to buy me a pie from a bakery I like.

‘Other than call me I think it was the last thing she did,’ he said.

Choking back tears, Mr Landeryou said his wife’s death was ‘absurd and unjust,’ adding: ‘I would gladly swap places with her.’ 

‘I’m not going to blame any one person or any one meeting,’ he said.

‘Her friends and ferociously loyal staff are angry about how she was treated. Of course they are. 

‘And I have no quarrel with them about that. They know what they saw with their own eyes. 

‘I’m angry I failed to persuade her to slow down,’ he said.  

Senator Kitching’s allies have accused Labor’s senate leadership team comprising Wong, Keneally and Gallagher of treating her poorly before her death, including forcing her to do late night shifts and dumping her from the tactics committee. 

Last week Senator Wong revealed she apologised to Senator Kitching in 2019 after insulting her childless fellow Labor senator by saying: ‘If you had children you would understand’.  

Before her death Senator Kitching was being treated for a thyroid condition which caused her to lose weight in recent years but was improving. 

She was under stress because he preselection for a senate spot was up in the air, meaning her career could come crashing down after just six years. 

Mourners had begun flooding into the church more than an hour-and-a-half before the service was due to commence.

They were greeted by bright sunshine on what was nothing short of a perfect Melbourne afternoon.

Scores of photographers and cameramen lined the church entrance as mourners arrived.

Only a day earlier, Melburnians had watched the funeral of another great local in Shane Warne. 

Among the crowds at the church gates were undercover police officers, who kept a close watch on those who entered the grounds.

Journalists both past and present also attended, including News Corp firebrand Andrew Bolt, who was close friends with Ms Kitching’s husband.

Flowers continued to arrive even as the service commenced.

So full was the church that some people were forced to stand at the back of the to watch.

The large attendance was testament to the politician’s high regard.

One former reporter and now political spin doctor said Ms Kitching was a breath of fresh air. ‘She was one of the good ones,’ he said.   

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he received ‘no complaints’ from Senator Kitching over claims she was bullied by other women in the party.

‘I received no complaints (from Kimberley) at any time,’ he said.  

‘That is just a fact. That is not to say that, of course, from time to time in politics, it’s a competitive business [and] one where I think we could all be kinder to each other… within the Parliament, within our own parties, and across the aisle, and I would always urge people to do so.’

Mr Albanese also rejected reports Senator Kitching was ‘scared’ of the ALP leader.

‘That is just not true. Kimberley and I travelled together, have a look at the photos from the trip,’ he said.  

In October 2019 Senator Wong told Senator Kitching ‘if you had children, you might understand’ in a discussion about climate change. 

Ms Kitching – who was unable to conceive with husband Andrew – had argued the party should not support students who ditched school to attend climate protests.

Senator Kitching’s supporters said the comment hurt because she wanted to have children but could not. 

In a statement, Senators Keneally, Wong and Gallagher said ‘allegations of bullying are untrue’ but admitted that ‘robust contests and interactions’ are frequent in politics. 

Senator Wong has now revealed she apologised for the horrendous remark when it was reported by the ABC in November 2019 in an article that didn’t name her.

‘After these matters were publicly reported more than two years ago, Senator Wong discussed the matter with Senator Kitching and apologised,’ the statement said.

‘Senator Wong understood that apology was accepted. The comments that have been reported do not reflect Senator Wong’s views, as those who know her would understand, and she deeply regrets pain these reports have caused.’ 

Mr Albanese refused to set up an inquiry into the bullying allegations and repeatedly refused to answer questions about the matter, claiming they are disrespectful to Senator Kitching. 

After blasting the Coalition over the poor treatment of women, the scandal threatens to derail his bid to become Prime Minister in May. 

Scott Morrison said Mr Albanese had gone into hiding. ‘Where is Anthony Albanese? I mean, where is he on this issue,’ he said. 

Senator Kitching – who was from the Labor Right faction – made allegations of in-party bullying to Deputy Leader Richard Marles in June and then to workplace safety consultants in November. 

She told Mr Marles she believed she was being ‘frozen out’ by the left-dominated Senate leadership team and claimed to have been unfairly dumped from the tactics committee meetings. 

Mr Marles reportedly said he would ‘sort it out’ but nothing happened. 

In an awkward interview with Ally Langdon on the Today show on Friday, Mr Marles refused to say if he had let Senator Kitching down. 

‘I’m not going to walk down that path,’ he spluttered.

‘Right now we want to honour Kimberley Kitching, who she was, what she achieved, the warm and wonderful person that she was and that’s what I’m focused on.’ 

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Ms Kitching’s friends and family deserved answers about how she suffered in her final years in parliament.

‘There are many people, close friends of Kimberley’s within the Labor Party, making these allegations and if I was leader or deputy leader of the Labor Party I would want to know the answers,’ he said. 

Meanwhile, bombshell texts have emerged showing Ms Kitching messaged a friend about Ms Wong the night before she lodged a bullying complaint.

‘Wong has been bad,’ the message obtained by The Australian reads.

‘She would love to never see me again.’

Senator Kitching sent the text late at night on the November 4 last year. The next day she lodged her bullying complaint.

The relationship between Senator Kitching and Wong – a key figure of the Labor Left – was reportedly stony and the pair had previously fallen out.  

Former Labor MP Emma Husar has since come forward with reports of bullying within the party, claiming it caused her so much stress she also developed a heart condition.

Ms Husar, who once represented the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay, claims she was also a victim of Labor’s ‘incredibly toxic’ culture. 

Ms Husar left Parliament after Labor mounted an investigation into ultimately unproven charges of sexual harassment against her. 

Senator Kitching was a vocal human rights campaigner who spoke five languages and was respected across the political divide. 

She was instrumental in passing Australia’s Magnitsky Act to allow sanctions on individuals who violate human rights.

Source: DailyMail