Francais | English | Espanõl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cheryl Kernot (Pronounced Ker-no) (born December 5, 1948) is a former Australian politician. She was the fifth leader of the Australian Democrats (April 23, 1993 to October 15, 1997).

Contents 1 Political career 2 Life after politics 3 Reference 4 External links

[edit] Political career

Kernot spent twelve years as a political activist while working as a school teacher in Queensland. For eleven years she was a member of Federal Parliament, including five years as leader of the Australian Democrats. In October 1997 Kernot controversially defected to the Australian Labor Party, leaving the leadership of the Democrats to Meg Lees.

While a member of the Australian Labor Party, Kernot narrowly won one election as the ALP candidate for Dickson at the 1998 Federal Election, before losing it at the 2001 Federal 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. When she was voted out in 2001 she appeared on national TV to launch a stinging and bitter attack on the Labor Party, the Australian voters and various other figures.

[edit] Life after politics

After retiring from politics she wrote a "full and frank" book about her experiences, which notably failed to reveal that she had been having an affair whilst leader of the Democrats with ALP frontbencher and former Australian Foreign Minister, Gareth Evans, despite both of them being married to other people at the time. [1] She also did not mention the fact that in March 1998, Gareth Evans had denied in Parliament that the two were having an affair. The affair is thought to have ended in October 1999 and Kernot was hospitalised for what was called glandular fever at the time, but which she later described as an immune system breakdown caused by emotional and physical exhaustion.

Kernot now lives in London, and has recently been the director of learning at the London School for Social Entrepreneurs. She has since become a Programme Director in the Nurse/AHP's Developmental Programme in Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford.

[edit] Reference

• Cheryl Kernot, Senate Biography

[edit] External links

• An article by her on Lynton Crosby in The Guardian
• A look at Laurie Oakes's "outing" of Kernot's affair.

Preceded by: Janet Powell

Leader of the Australian Democrats 1993-1997

Succeeded by: Meg Lees