Cheryl Kernot was born Cheryl Paton in Maitland, New South Wales on 5 December 1948. She spent twelve years as a political activist while working as a school teacher in New South Wales and Queensland. She also worked as an electorate officer and freelance radio producer. In 1984, Kernot was elected Queensland Secretary of the Australian Democrats, and later in the year, Queensland State President, a position she held until 1999. Kernot served as Deputy National President of the party between 1988 until her election to the Senate in 1990.
Political career
Democrats
She was first elected as a Senator for Queensland at the 1990 election, taking over from the retiring Democrats Senator Michael Macklin. Kernot surprised party members by immediately contesting the parliamentary leadership, even before taking her place in the Senate on 1 July 1990. In 1991, she then controversially acted to discredit and depose the elected leader, Janet Powell, resulting in Powell's replacement by John Coulter. 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 Western 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.
Labor
On 15 October 1997, Kernot abruptly moved to the Australian Labor Party, resigning her Senate seat and leaving the leadership of the Democrats to her deputy, Meg Lees, in what was described by journalist Monica Attard as a "defection took the country by storm". In her resignation speech, 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". She also stated that she was "well aware of the political risks in this course of action". Some derided Kernot because of her ambition; and, according to journalist Julia Baird, she "found herself at odds with the leadership of the Labor Party". Baird went on to say that "......unravelled publicly under the stress, and she was portrayed in print as a has-been, a whinger and a poor performer". Kernot narrowly won the outer metropolitan Brisbane seat of Dickson for Labor at the 1998 election, before losing it at the 2001 election to the Liberal Party candidate Peter Dutton. During her period as Member for Dickson, Kernot served in the Shadow Ministry, and held the roles of Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Services from 1998 to 1999, and Shadow Minister for Employment and Training from 1999 to 2001.
Life outside politics
After retiring from politics, Kernot wrote an autobiography called Speaking for Myself, which was published in 2002. This book was focused on her political career, particularly her move from the Democrats to Labor. On 3 July 2002, in his regular weekly column in The Bulletin, political journalist Laurie Oakes criticised Kernot for failing to mention an extramarital affair she had with Gareth Evans while she was leader of the Democrats. Evans was deputy leader of the Labor Party and key advocate of her move to Labor. Oakes claimed that the relationship began several years before Kernot joined Labor, and ended in October 1999. He made the claim based on leaked emails in his possession that proved Kernot had had a five-year relationship with Evans. Initially, Kernot and Evans made themselves unavailable for comment; however, Evans subsequently confirmed the nature of their relationship. Kernot worked in the United Kingdom as Programme Director at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurs at the Said Business School at Oxford University and as the Director of Learning at the School for Social Entrepreneurs in London. Kernot is currently the Director of Social Business at the Centre for Social Impact, based at the University of New South Wales. She has also expressed support for Australia becoming a republic.
Return to politics
On 30 July 2010, Kernot announced that she would run as a candidate for the Australian Senate representing New South Wales as an independent on a platform of "Change politics". She was not successful.
Other interests
Kernot was one of Australia's first fully qualified female cricket umpires. She was patron of the Australian women's cricket team from 1994 to 2000. Kernot is on the founding committee of a UK charity which works to provide shelter and education for street children in Kampala, Uganda. In 2014 Kernot became the first patron of the Women in Prison Advocacy Network. WIPAN is a grassroots community charity dedicated to advancing the prospects and wellbeing of women and female youth affected by the criminal justice system. It does so through individual mentoring and advocacy.
