Update 3 July 2002
Cheryl is no longer in the Labor party, she lost her seat at the last election. Recently she has been doing the media rounds promoting her new book, Speaking For Myself Again, available from Dymocks — or wait for it to hit the bargain bin.

Apparently some huge "secret" was not been revealed in the book. See the fatal defection of the Pro Kernot Affair.

Gareth Evan's biography is certainly not big on secrets. It is hardly a detailed account of his life. Did anyone object?

Email your suggestions, gossip and rumour or just read what others have to say.

See our timeline of events for more details.

Brief Background
After a few years' work experience at the helm of the Australian Democrats, Cheryl's big moment came in 1997 when she broke out of the play-pen of Australia's largest alternative, new-age political party to join her older siblings in the Labor Party.

She spent some time as a Labor MP exhibiting a desire to be Australia's 'Queen of Lattes', and a determination to be Labor's roving ambassador for all things baby-boomeresque.

This self-styled 'Babycino Princess' tried to win back the hearts and minds of the baby boomers and suckle them all the way to the next election.

At the time of Cheryl's defection the Democrats seemed more concerned about the threat from Pauline Hanson's One Nation.

Joining the Labour Party did not turn out to be Cheryl's wisest political move, even though she was briefly touted as a future Prime Minister.

The media turned up the heat. Yet, even revelations of a "deep and meaningful" relationship, for which read twenty-somethingish crush involving a schoolkid, didn't diminish her popularity with voters.

Her current affair was never mentioned even though this involved misleading Parliament.

As any American President will tell you, no one cares when you have sex with one or two people -- it's when try to screw the whole country that you run into problems.

Cheryl's autobiography launched on July 1, 2002 caused more fuss for what wasn't in it, rather than for what was.

It appears some Australian journalists think it acceptable for politicians to protect their privacy by misleading Parliament, yet get upset when a few years later, some truths are left out of a book for similar reasons.

Taking a leaf out of Mark Latham's book — I wouldn't even wipe my arse with the paper they write on.