Cheryl Kernot

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Cheryl Kernot (born 5 December 1948) is a former Australian politician. She was the fifth leader of the Australian Democrats (23 April 1993 to 15 October 1997), before defecting to the Australian Labor Party where she narrowly held the Brisbane seat of Dickson for one term.

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[edit] Political career

Kernot spent twelve years as a political activist while working as a school teacher in New South Wales and Queensland[1]. She was first elected as a Senator for Queensland at the 1990 election, taking over from the retiring Senator Michael Macklin, who had held the seat for the Australian Democrats following the 1980 election.

Kernot surprised party members by immediately contesting the parliamentary leadership, even before taking her place in the Senate. In 1991, she then controversially acted to discredit and depose the elected leader, Senator Janet Powell, resulting in Powell's replacement by Senator John Coulter.[2] Kernot finally achieved her ambition to become the Democrats' Senate leader after the 1993 election. Meg Lees was elected as her deputy. Inside the party, she spearheaded a drive for central control of the state-based organisations, which resulted in protest resignations of members and the temporary closure of the West Australian Division. Externally, however, she became a popular media spokesperson, leading the party to one of its best-ever results in the 1996 election and obtaining a primary vote of over 13% for herself.

In October 1997, Kernot abruptly defected to the Australian Labor Party, resigning her Senate seat and leaving the leadership of the Democrats to her deputy, Lees. In her speech resigning from the Democrats, Kernot did not criticise the Democrats, saying her motivation was due to a "growing sense of outrage at the damage being done to Australia by the Howard Government" and that her position leading a minor party in the Senate meant she "had a limited capacity to help minimise that damage."[3] She also stated that she was "well aware of the political risks in this course of action".[3]

Kernot narrowly won the division of Dickson for Labor at the 1998 election, before losing it at the 2001 election to the Liberal Party candidate Peter Dutton. Her period as a member of the Labor Party was marked by her position as Shadow Minister of Education, and a series of badly judged media appearances including an infamous photo of her wearing a red dress with a red feather boa. (Australian women's magazine pic)

[edit] Life after politics

After retiring from politics she wrote a "full and frank" book about her experiences, which was criticised by political journalist Laurie Oakes for failing to discuss her extramarital affair whilst leader of the Democrats with Labor front bencher and former Foreign Minister, Gareth Evans.[4]

Kernot now works in the United Kingdom as a programme director and health accelerator in the Nurse/AHP's Developmental Programme in Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford[5].

[edit] References

  1. ^ McGeough, Paul. "The other side of Saint Cheryl", Sydney Morning Herald, (14 December 1997).
  2. ^ "A cautionary tale of hypocrisy and ambition", The Age, 5 July 2002. Retrieved on 2008-03-02. 
  3. ^ a b Kernot, Cheryl. "Resignation Speech", Canberra (15 October 1997). Retrieved on 2007-04-01.
  4. ^ "Laurie Oakes, Cheryl Kernot And The Unreported Story" (3 July 2002). Retrieved on 2007-04-01.
  5. ^ Her profile for present positions

[edit] External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
John Coulter		 Leader of the Australian Democrats
1993 – 1997		 Succeeded by
Meg Lees
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by
Tony Smith		 Member for Dickson
1998 – 2001		 Succeeded by
Peter Dutton