Cheryl Kernot (born 5 December 1948) is a former Australian politician. She was a Senator 1990-1997 for the Australian Democrats, and the fifth leader of the Democrats (23 April 1993 – 15 October 1997), before defecting to the Australian Labor Party. For Labor, she narrowly held the House of Representatives seat of Dickson for one term.
Kernot spent twelve years as a political activist while working as a school teacher in New South Wales and Quee...
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Cheryl Kernot (born 5 December 1948) is a former Australian politician. She was a Senator 1990-1997 for the Australian Democrats, and the fifth leader of the Democrats (23 April 1993 – 15 October 1997), before defecting to the Australian Labor Party. For Labor, she narrowly held the House of Representatives seat of Dickson for one term.
Kernot spent twelve years as a political activist while working as a school teacher in New South Wales and Queensland. 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 since 1981.
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, Senator Janet Powell, resulting in Powell's replacement by Senator John Coulter. Kernot finally achieved her ambition to...
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