Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has downplayed calls for an inquiry into the alleged bullying of Kimberley Kitching, insisting the late Labor senator did not officially complain about the matter.
Senator Kitching died suddenly from a suspected heart attack earlier this month, after which it emerged she had reportedly complained about bullying by Labor's Senate leadership team.
That leadership team — of senators Penny Wong, Kristina Keneally and Katy Gallagher — have denied those allegations and all three attended Senator Kitching's funeral on Monday in Melbourne.
The Prime Minister yesterday labelled the Labor leader as "gutless" for not answering questions on the issue.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Albanese said proper process had been followed and ruled out an inquiry into the allegations.
"There was no complaint put in by Kimberley," he said.
"My office is open to every member of the Caucus [and] I had a number of one-on-one meetings with Kimberley since I've been leader."
Mr Albanese said Senator Kitching had complained to Labor's deputy leader about being removed from the party's tactics committee, but that being removed and reinstated to the committee was not uncommon.
"I myself was in that position during this term," he said.
"I didn't go on after the 2013 election, even though I had been the chair for a long period of time.
"We have had various changes to committees. They happen all the time and, unfortunately, there's always more people that want positions than positions [that] are there."
Labor has repeatedly accused Mr Morrison of going missing when the nation needed him in natural emergencies or in preparing the nation to respond to COVID-19.
Mr Morrison turned those allegations back on Mr Albanese, accusing him of going missing since the allegations of bullying within Labor emerged.
"What we've got from Anthony Albanese, at the first sign of hard questions — and we're not even into the campaign yet — he has gone into complete hiding," he said yesterday.
"Frankly, I think that is pretty gutless."
Mr Morrison also accused Mr Albanese of being a hypocrite and not holding himself and his party to the same standard that he, and it, set for others.
"He's very quick to throw stones on these issues but, when it comes to actually meeting the very standard that he seeks to apply to others, then he fails at the first hurdle," he said.
Mr Albanese is facing continued pressure to call an inquiry into Senator Kitching's treatment, but he has denied that there is a cultural problem within the Labor Party.
"Were there some tensions within the Labor Party? Clearly, clearly, there were between individuals," Mr Albanese said.
"Are there ongoing tensions between individuals in the Labor Party from time to time? Yes, there are. What we need to do is to make sure we're conscious of it."
