Associate Professor Kernot, Director of Social Business at the Centre for Social Impact, University of New South Wales, has announced that she will return to politics to stand in a group of independents in the upcoming half senate election in NSW.

The group aims to build bonds of trust and loyalty between citizens and their elected representatives, and are keen to champion the not-for-profit and community sectors.

A/Prof. Kernot will take unpaid leave from her position at the Centre for Social Impact during this time.

A/Prof. Kernot was a member of the Australian Democrats from 1990 to 1997, after which she joined the Australian Labor Party, of which she was a member until the 2001 federal election. Her policy interests were in social justice and social structural reform, and her political portfolios included Indigenous Affairs, Treasury, Employment, and Women’s Policy.

Following her political career, A/Prof. Kernot worked in the UK as a Program 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.