Penny Wong has confirmed she will now attend the funeral of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching after previously insisting she was uncertain if she could make it.
Labor’s foreign spokeswoman previously said she was uncertain whether she would be able to attend the funeral, to be held on Monday in Melbourne, due to engagements in the Northern Territory.
“Oh look, I will look at whether I can. I currently have an engagement in the Northern Territory with some First Nations communities,” she told Ten News.
The Australian later revealed the engagements included a Labor fundraising event in the seat of Lingiari on the same day.
Tickets to the “evening with Penny Wong” ranged from $80 to $120 a head.
A spokesperson for the Senator confirmed she would be attending.
“Senator Wong will be attending Senator Kitching’s funeral to pay her respects along with the Labor family,” she said.
It comes as the Senator’s unexpected death of a suspected heart attack at just 52 raises questions about how her Labor colleagues treated her in the last months of her life.
Allegations have aired this week that Senator Kitching was on the receiving end of hostile behaviour and humiliation from the party, most notably from “mean girl” senators Penny Wong, Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher.
Senators Wong and Gallagher said they disagreed with the allegations, adding it wasn’t appropriate to discuss the matter while people were grieving.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton urged the opposition leader to “properly investigate” the allegations.
“Putting politics aside, there are serious allegations here that have been made,” Mr Dutton said on Thursday.
“Out of respect for Kimberley and her family, they need to be properly investigated and properly understood.”
But Anthony Albanese has declared no such inquiry will take place, rubbishing the claims as extraordinarily disrespectful
Labor’s spokesperson for Women, Tanya Plibersek, refused to be drawn on whether the party should apologise.
“We haven’t even had (her) funeral yet. I don’t think it’s appropriate to be making this into a political issue,” she told Sky News.
“We have lost a colleague way too young. We want to respect the wishes of her family and support her husband and her friends in any way that we can.”
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the claims discredited Labor’s claim it was the party of women.
“I think what we’re seeing being played out now is really what the Labor Party and particularly the Greens are really about,” she told Sky News.
“They don’t stand up for women. Theyxjmtzyw don’t support women, and they need to.”
