The Standard Albo Walks Past

Sorry, which party has a ‘woman problem’? If we’re to believe the legacy media (and who would?), it’s the coalition. Because, y’know, they refuse to patronise women as lesser achievers by imposing quotas – because everyone knows women can never succeed unless they have the boys in power giving them a leg-up.

The coalition are also supposed to be a bunch of nasty, misogynist woman-abusers. Not like the Greens, where accusations of bullying, sexual harassment and cover-up, rape and even soliciting kiddy porn never, ever happen.

And certainly not Labor, where women are respected; no past leader was ever accused of rape, and bullying is absolutely not tolerated.

PM Anthony Albanese likes to blatherskite that “the standard you walk past is the standard you accept”. Looks like Albo has accepted a whole lot of stuff that most decent people never would.

When Kimberley died it was a politically inconvenient time, just a couple of months before a potential general election. But despite calls for an investigation – for the bullying claims to be assessed independently by the Labor Party – no one in the ALP’s political or administrative wings acted […]

His standard was for Penny Wong and her entourage to never face an investigation about the alleged bullying and the coercive actions against Kimberley.

I vividly remember him on TV, when he was asked about the bullying allegations and Kimberley’s untimely death, dismissing the claims, saying words that gave the effect of: “Look, Kimberley Kitching played her politics pretty hard.”

In other words: “She was askin’ for it”. Yes, the “woman friendly” Labor government is actually in the game of victim-blaming.

A year later there still hasn’t been any investigation. There is no desire to unearth the truth about whether bullying was at the heart of his ministerial leadership team.

The alleged perpetrators of this weren’t members of the opposition or crossbench but instead the ALP Senate leadership, two of whom continue in those roles today.

The third only isn’t because she was, as has happened every time she’s faced the inconvenience of election, given a well-deserved boot up the arse by voters. Thanks, quota system!

Senators Penny Wong, Katy Gallagher and Kristina Keneally were well known to Kimberley as the “mean girls”. We’ve all seen how cliques work. A film of their era, Heathers, documents the relentless use of social ostracising, as well as verbal violence, to belittle and diminish the sense of self-worth of someone who doesn’t quite fit in or doesn’t bend to their coercive control.

Kimberley, who did not have children, was once publicly humiliated by Wong uttering the words, “If you had children, you might understand the importance of the climate emergency.”

Remember the unholy screeching from the media-political left, should anyone else point out Julia Gillard’s childlessness? But, hey, it’s not ‘misogyny’ when they do it.

In the days after Kimberley’s death the issue of bullying was raised, including that she had discussed her treatment with a PricewaterhouseCoopers representative employed by the parliament. But Wong, Gallagher and Keneally used the same holding line: “Out of respect I won’t comment on the allegations (of bullying).”

So, not even a denial. And certainly no investigation by the ALP.

Out of respect for Kimberley, it is the reason an independent inquiry must still be held.
If Wong has nothing to hide and nothing to fear, she would surely want to clear her name and support an open and independent investigation into the bullying claims […]

The bullying of Kimberley needs thorough investigation, especially after Wong’s well-known childless comments and after Kimberley was removed from key positions, such as the Senate tactics committee, and her demotion from the shadow ministry. There’s a pattern of behaviour here.

That Wong continues to hold her position without an investigation speaks volumes for what Labor rewards.

The Australian

“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept,” indeed.

And now we know what Labor’s standards really are.