ONE of Jersey’s highest-profile sports personalities has declared an ambition to make a positive difference for the Island on the political playing field.
Former netballer Serena Kersten, who won 100 England caps and featured in the gold medal-winning Commonwealth Games campaign of 2018, is to seek election in one of nine vacant positions for the Island-wide role of Senator on 7 June.
The former student at Le Rocquier School retired from netball in 2022 and returned to the Island where she was born and bred later the same year – she and her husband Bob Kersten now have a three-year-old daughter and a son aged 18 months.
“Over the last couple of years I’ve had a lot of people I know asking me about standing for office,” Mrs Kersten said. “I wasn’t sure initially, but I’ve thought about it a lot and I really feel this is the right time for me.
“Currently I’m a mum or two, a middle earner, but I’m being squeezed month after month because of childcare costs, food bills, mortgage payments and interest rates.
“I’ve got a lot of good friends doing great things for the Island – creatives, lawyers, teachers, it’s not any specific area – and we’re all feeling it, and it’s frustrating.”
Mrs Kersten is standing as an independent, but confirmed she is endorsing many of the policies of political movement Value Jersey, which launched last October and is challenging candidates to back cheaper choices, less wasteful government and pro-growth economics.
“I’m a doer, not a complainer, and so I think the time feels right for me to get inside the belly of the beast, and try and do something about it,” she said. “I think the Island needs different types of representation in government to make sure that we are representing the people of Jersey, so why not me?”
Among the priority areas cited by Mrs Kersten that she would wish to focus on if elected were addressing the cost-of-living crisis, removing barriers to doing business and action to make children more active.
“Some of the stats that have come out recently around children exercising, not even for one hour a day, are really worrying and I would want to fight to reintroduce PE teachers into primary schools,” she said. “You could make some really quick gains, giving young people the exercise and the physical literacy they need.”
The former captain of England’s national side, the Roses, said she believed a background in elite sport would be an asset in the States Assembly.
“Knowing how to work in a team of people, and creating a culture and conditions where the team can perform and get the win is probably my my biggest transferable skill,” she said. “For me, the win is making cost of living cheaper, it’s making ways of doing business cheaper and easier, and it’s cutting down waste so we can save money and spend it on other areas.”
Mrs Kersten is the tenth person to confirm their intention to bid for one of the nine Senatorial seats on offer. Two other candidates – former hospital project director Bernard Place and policy leader Sir Mark Boleat – are seeking to be elected to the Assembly for the first time, while seven current States Members are also lining up: Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, Treasury Minister Elaine Millar, External Relations Minister Ian Gorst, Environment Minister Steve Luce, Housing Minister Sam Mézec, Home Affairs Minister Mary Le Hegarat and former Home Affairs Minister Deputy Helen Miles.
