Andrew Olexander

Andrew Phillip Olexander (born 26 February 1965) was an Australian politician. He was an independent member of the Victorian Legislative Council representing Silvan Province since November 2005, after being expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party, which he had represented since 1999.

His career has been dogged by controversy after a 2004 drink-driving incident, which ultimately saw him lose Liberal Party pre-selection to contest his seat at the 2006 state election. He was subsequently expelled from the parliamentary party and forced to sit as an independent after criticising the party's pre-selection decision, and accusing the party of being homophobic.

Olexander, who is openly gay,citation |title=Gay MP fights to survive |first=Jason |last=Dowling |date=27 November 2005 |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/gay-mp-fights-to-survive/2005/11/26/1132966006765.html |accessdate=2007-11-01 |periodical=The Age] was born in the regional city of Geelong, though he attended high school in suburban Melbourne. He studied economics at the University of Melbourne before pursuing a career in market research. He became heavily involved with the Young Liberal movement, acting as its State President from 1989 to 1990. He also served on its Federal Policy Committee, as well as the broader party's Federal Council during the same period.

In 1999, Olexander won pre-selection for the safe Liberal Legislative Council seat of Silvan Province, and was subsequently elected. After the Liberal Party's crushing defeat at the 2002 election, Olexander was promoted to the shadow ministry, taking on the portfolios of Youth, Arts and Consumer Affairs in December 2002. During 2002 to 2004, he also served on the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee.

Controversies

In the early hours of 11 July 2004, Olexander was driving home when he crashed his taxpayer funded car into four others, writing off at least one. He was taken to hospital, and subsequent tests revealed that he was over the legal blood alcohol limit of .05. He immediately resigned his three portfolios and issued a public apology, though he faced strong public criticism from party leader Robert Doyle. In the days after the accident, it was widely suggested that as a result, Olexander would be unlikely to retain Liberal pre-selection when he faces re-election at the 2006 election. Doyle later stated that he had seriously considered asking the party to dump Olexander immediately. In a strange coincidence, Olexander's accident came only six weeks after Carolyn Hirsh, the other member for Silvan Province (each seat in the Legislative Council had two representatives), was forced to resign from her committee positions after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol.

Only weeks later, Olexander faced yet more questions when "The Age" newspaper raised queries over whether he was entitled to travel allowances he had claimed. Olexander had received an overnight allowance of more than $100 for each Legislative Council sitting day as a result of apparently residing in Ringwood East. The media began raising questions as to whether Olexander actually resided at the address, suggesting that his primary residence was an apartment located in Melbourne's central Docklands district. To make matters worse for Olexander, "The Age" revealed two weeks later that his Ringwood East house was only 25km from the city, which meant that he was ineligible to receive the allowance. Though he insisted that the discrepancy resulted from a bureaucratic mistake, he subsequently repaid the debt, on top of the approximately $100,000 damage to the crashed cars, and leased out his Docklands apartment and took out a loan to pay the costs.

He attracted some attention in late 2004 for advocating for greater funding for gambling support groups and his criticism of the government's backdown on their election promise to extend the Epping railway line to South Morang. However, the drink-driving incident returned to haunt him the following March, when he was found guilty on drink-driving charges and was fined and had his license cancelled for a year.

Olexander kept a relatively low profile throughout the remainder of 2005, and despite past controversy, attempted to retain Liberal preselection to contest his seat at the 2006 state election. He received some initial support when Opposition Leader Robert Doyle backed his bid to remain in parliament, but failed to reach double figures in a ballot of the 150 preselection delegates; not enough to even gain him the bottom position on the ticket.

In mid-November 2005 Liberal state leader Robert Doyle convened a meeting of the Parliamentary Liberal Party and asked Olexander to show cause why he should not be expelled from the Parliamentary Party for "bringing the Party into disrepute". Subsequently Doyle convened a second meeting of the PLP on 29 November and moved that Olexander be expelled. This motion was carried (votes not released). Olexander served out the remainder of his term in the Upper House sitting on the cross benches. Olexander commented that he "would continue working as the member for the outer-suburban seat of Silvan and would sit on Parliament's cross-benches as an independent". Olexander is still a member of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party.

Independent Member

Since his expulsion from the Parliamentary Liberal Party Olexander has made several statements alleging that he was expelled because of anti-gay sentiment among Liberal parliamentarians, naming Philip Davis, Bill Forwood, Bruce Atkinson and Gordon Rich-Phillips. All four have strongly denied these allegations. [http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2006/02/23/1140670207675.html]

In June 2006, Olexander was reported to have drafted a Private Member's Bill that would allow gay civil unions in Victoria. The bill is unlikely to pass, let alone be debated due to Labor control of both Houses of Parliament. [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19405392-1702,00.html]

Despite threatening to run against Liberal members in the reformed Upper House, Olexander failed to nominate for the 2006 State Election. He retired from Parliament on the 25th of November 2006, the day of the poll.

References