Opinion: The bald fact is that both Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese preside over party cultures that have some deeply unpleasant elements concealed within | JacquelineMaley
That escalated quickly. Ten days ago it was reported that Labor senator Kimberley Kitching had died suddenly of a heart attack, a tragic early death of someoneThe next morning opposition frontbencher and former Labor leader Bill Shorten, a close friend of Kitching’s, gave an extraordinary interview to ABC radio implicitly linking his friend’s death to the stress she was under.
Gallagher, Wong and Keneally are crucial members of Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s leadership team. Along with Tanya Plibersek, they represent the fresh, female face of modern Labor – the modern Labor that is supposed to have left its nasty factional infighting in the past, uniting behind its leader.Early in the week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison reverse-body-shamed Albanese for shedding kilos.
When men are awful to each other in the pursuit of power, there is some sort of gentlemanly pact in play. When women are awful to each other, there is a moral transgression, a breach of the bonds of sisterhood. How can you claim to be a feminist and not support other women? Julia Gillard was a master at the across-the-despatch-box sledging that slides just under the perception of the television broadcast microphones. Since leaving politics, she has written and spoken about the risk of sidelining women if we don’t allow them, or expect them, to play as hard in politics as men do.
Albanese has refused calls to institute an inquiry into the claims of bullying, despite reports Kitching personally complained to deputy Labor leader Richard Marles before her death.