John Gilbert AlexanderOAM (born 4 July 1951),nicknamed JA,is an Australian former professional tennis player,sports broadcaster,and federal politician.
As a tennis player,Alexander reached a career-high singles rank of no. 8 in the world in 1975. He reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open singles on three occasions,and won the doubles in 1975 and 1982. He also played in the Australian team that won the 1977 Davis Cup. After the end of his playing career,Alexander worked as a tennis commentator and managed various sports-related businesses.
He was a commentator for Seven Sport,the host broadcaster of the Australian Open,for more than two decades,from the late 1980s until the early 2010s,becoming the main play-by-play commentator for men's singles prime time matches in the new millennium,alongside John McEnroe and from 2005 Jim Courier. JA's final commentary duties at the Australian Open were in 2010,thereafter he moved into politics,winning his seat at the 2010 Australian federal election.
Alexander won the Division of Bennelong for the Liberal Party at the 2010 election,and retained the seat in 2013 and 2016. He resigned on 11 November 2017 due to constitutional ineligibility arising from his dual citizenship of the United Kingdom. He renounced his UK citizenship and stood as the Liberal Party candidate at the by-election,held on 16 December 2017,which he won. In November 2021,Alexander announced his retirement from politics.
Early life
Alexander was born in Sydney. His father,Gilbert Alexander,was born in Essex,England,in 1907 and moved to Australia at the age of three.[1]
Tennis career
John Alexander at the 1970 International Dutch Championships in Hilversum
During a tennis career spanning the late 1960s to mid-1980s,Alexander won seven tour singles titles and 27 doubles titles,and earned a total of $1,214,079 (USD) in prize money.[2] He achieved a career best singles ranking of World No. 8 in December 1975. Alexander is the youngest player to represent Australia in the Davis Cup. He was also one of Australia's longest serving Davis Cup players,representing his country from 1968 to 1983. From 1974 to 1986,Alexander served as the resident tennis professional at Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis Peachtree World of Tennis Club in Peachtree Corners,Georgia US.
Alexander served as captain of the Australian Fed Cup team and worked as a sports commentator for Australian (Channel 7) and British (BBC) television networks for over 20 years. Joining Seven in 1986,he provided play-by-play commentary and other duties for the network's Australian Open telecasts for 23 years,as well as appearing on other programs for ATN-7 Sydney,such as Seven News and 1990s reality show Gladiators. Alexander worked with colleagues including Peter Landy,Garry Wilkinson,Allan Stone,Sandy Roberts,Bruce McAvaney and Johanna Griggs,as well as John McEnroe in the early 2000s and Jim Courier from 2005 to 2010 (who remains in this position to this date,now with the Nine Network).
Business career
As managing director of Next Generation Clubs Australia,Alexander designed and built sport and fitness clubs;including the Ryde Aquatic Centre in Sydney to host the 2000 Summer Olympic Gameswater polo event,the development of Memorial Drive in Adelaide into a multi-function health and fitness facility,and Royal King's Park in Perth.
In 1995 Alexander served as referee during the first series run of the Australian adaptation of the television series Gladiators.[3][4]
Shortly before his election to Parliament in 2010,Alexander's Tennis Professionals won a High Court case for the right to redevelop the White City Tennis Centre in Sydney.
Alexander also managed a variety of small businesses in the retail and sporting sectors.
Alexander delivered his maiden speech to parliament on 28 October 2010,[7] detailing his particular interest in areas of preventative health,infrastructure,transport and sustainable growth. During his first term Alexander was put in charge of several internal policy committees,with a particular focus on regional development and policies to tackle urban congestion.
In October 2011 Alexander ran the inaugural Bennelong Cup Table Tennis Test match,involving players from China,Korea and Australia playing in a formal competition in Ryde,a suburb within his constituency. In October 2012 the opening games were played in the Great Hall of Parliament House,Canberra—the first competitive sporting event ever played there. The Ambassadors for China and Korea participated in a friendly competition with Alexander and Minister for Sport Kate Lundy. The Bennelong Cup is the celebration of Alexander's Bennelong Schools Table Tennis Program which has put tables in all 40 Bennelong schools to encourage social interaction between students of different cultural backgrounds,together with a healthy activity. The Bennelong Cup has continued every year since with an interschool tournament followed by international competition in Ryde,preceded by exhibition matches in Parliament House,Canberra.[8]
Alexander has also established a range of other local programs including Bennelong Gardens,which provides work opportunities for people with disabilities in specially designed market gardens,and Bennelong Village Business program which promotes the benefits of local small business shopping and negotiates discounted advertising rates for small businesses in the local newspaper. John Alexander received much publicity for his 100km charity walk around Bennelong to raise money and awareness of motor neurone disease after the loss of two close friends to the disease.[9]
Alexander was not challenged in Liberal preselection in 2012. In the 2013 election Alexander was re-elected as Member for Bennelong,increasing his two party preferred margin to 7.8 points.[10]
In September 2013 Alexander was appointed chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax &Revenue,a role in which he worked on improving access to 'light touch' tax returns for individuals with simple tax affairs. Following this he was appointed chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics,where he instigated an inquiry into home ownership and opportunities for tax reform.[11] Following Malcolm Turnbull's ascension to Prime Minister John Alexander was appointed chair of the newly formed House Standing Committee on Infrastructure,Transport &Cities,where he commenced an inquiry into transport connectivity,regional development,high speed rail and the use of value capture as an innovative funding mechanism.[12]
Alexander also served as chair of the Coalition Policy Committees on Infrastructure &Regional Development,and on Tourism,of the Sydney Airport Community Forum,and of the Australia-East Asia Parliamentary Network.[13]
As a strong proponent of high-speed rail linking Australia's eastern seaboard,[14] Alexander delivered the keynote speech at a high-speed rail conference at University of Melbourne in February 2014,highlighting the resultant opportunities for regional development and reduction in traffic congestion in major cities.[15]
Alexander was not challenged in Liberal preselection in 2016. In the 2016 election,he was re-elected as member for Bennelong,earning a small swing toward him despite the state - and the nation - swinging toward Labor. Alexander's hold on Bennelong was largely attributed to his high personal vote in the electorate.
During the Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis,on 6 November 2017,it was reported that Alexander might also be a British citizen and so had never been eligible for election to the Parliament.[16] On 11 November 2017,Alexander resigned from parliament after conceding that he was likely a dual citizen,[17] necessitating a by-election in Bennelong. He renounced his UK citizenship and stood as the Liberal Party candidate at the by-election,held on 16 December 2017. During his campaigning,a YouTube video of Alexander in the 1990s,uploaded in 2011,was resurfaced in the media. The video displays Alexander telling racist jokes at an end of year party with film crew from the 1990s TV show Gladiators. Once the video was shared with the ABC,Alexander immediately released a written statement that described how the jokes were "completely unacceptable". Alexander elaborated:"There is no place for jokes about violence against women. Again,I apologise unreservedly". Then Prime Minister,Malcolm Turnbull,praised Alexander's claims,saying his apology was "a measure of the man [...] Not all disrespect of women ends up in violence against women but that's where all violence against women begins,so all of us need to reflect on that. John has done so." Alexander's high profile opponent in the by-election,Kristina Keneally,appeared with then opposition leader Bill Shorten in Eastwood to respond to the incident. Shorten said that "The comments are crass,they're wrong,they're stupid,and the apology is 22 years too late".[18] At a press conference,Mr Shorten denied allegations that Labor had deliberately sourced the video in an attempt to bait Alexander during the campaign. Despite this setback,Alexander was safely re-elected,despite suffering a 4.84% two party preferred swing against him to Keneally and Labor. This reduced the Liberal Party's hold in Bennelong from 9.72% to 4.88%,making the seat marginal and at its most vulnerable position for the Coalition since John Howard's reliance on preference votes in 2004 to hold the seat by 4.33%.
In the lead up to the 2019 election,Alexander was scrutinised for his comments in response to Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. Bainimarama had asked the Australian Government to "please stop burning coal,you know the water level's just coming up and it's threatening our communities",to which Alexander responded "move to higher ground". Speaking at a community function in his electorate,Alexander elaborated:"It’s very much like your house is on fire,your children are in the house –should you call the fire brigade and get the children out of the house?" This statement was considered inflammatory by his Labor opponent,Brian Owler,who stated that "he [Alexander] says if the house is on fire to get out. Well,we don’t have a second house - or planet - to run to. It would be better if we didn’t start the fire in the first place."[19] Bainimarama replied to Alexander in a formal statement to Fiji press members,imploring that "Fiji is lucky we even have the higher ground to allow for relocation at all. I’m keen to hear what Alexander believes the people of Kiribati should do in the face of rising seas,where the highest point in their country sits at just 1.8 metres above sea level." Alexander later appeared on ABC Radio,clarifying the nature of his remarks by saying that adaptation was "a priority [...] we must also act to prevent further damage to our planet".[20] Despite the controversy,Alexander comfortably retained Bennelong,albeit suffering a 2.8% swing away from him.
In November 2021,Alexander opted to not contest the next election,deciding to retire from politics.[21] Shortly following his announcement,Alexander spoke with Paul Bongiorno of The Saturday Paper,reflecting on his experiences and time in office. Alexander criticised Prime Minister Scott Morrison,claiming that "people are tired of the way we engage with each other. All we do is bash each other." Bongiorno's opinion piece later writes that Alexander 'reserves his biggest salvos for the leadership of the Coalition government:Scott Morrison,Josh Frydenberg and Barnaby Joyce',and feels that 'if Labor’s Anthony Albanese wins the election,policies more fit to serve the national interest rather than narrow sectional interest might be served'.[22] This insight was deemed to be damaging for the Coalition,with Bennelong named as a 'key seat' for the upcoming election by ABC election analyst Antony Green. Bennelong had only been won by Labor once in nearly 80 years,and was gained for them again by Jerome Laxale at the 2022 election.
Alexander was briefly married, while in the United States, to a Canadian model and later married to Rosemary Brown, a former Olympic swimmer, for almost ten years. He and the former Ms. Brown have three children: Emily (1990), Georgia (1991) and Charles (1994). Alexander no longer lives in his electorate, but continued to rent an apartment in Epping.[23][24][25]
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Russell Evan Broadbent is an Australian politician who is a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Division of Monash. He is one of the longest-serving current members of parliament, having been in parliament from 1990 to 1993, from 1996 to 1998, and since 2004. In November 2023, he stood down from the Liberal Party and its parliamentary party room and joined the crossbench in response to losing his party endorsement ahead of a federal election due by September 2025.
The Division of Bennelong is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was created in 1949 and is named after Woollarawarre Bennelong, an Aboriginal man befriended by the first Governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip. The seat is represented by Jerome Laxale since the 2022 Australian federal election.
Maxine Margaret McKew is a former Australian Labor politician and journalist; she was the Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the First Rudd Ministry and the First Gillard Ministry.
Joshua Anthony Frydenberg is an Australian former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2018 to 2022. He also served as a member of parliament (MP) for the division of Kooyong from 2010 to 2022.
John Winston Howard is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, having previously served as the treasurer of Australia from 1977 to 1983 under Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the second-longest in Australian history, behind only Sir Robert Menzies. Howard has also been the oldest living Australian former prime minister since the death of Bob Hawke in May 2019.
Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally is an American-born Australian politician who served as the first female Premier of New South Wales from 2009 to 2011 and was later a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022. She resigned from the Senate to contest the House of Representatives seat of Fowler, but was unsuccessful. From 2019 to 2022 she served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.
Sir John Oscar Cramer was an Australian businessman and politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party and served in federal parliament from 1949 to 1974, representing the seat of Bennelong. He served as Minister for the Army in the Menzies government from 1956 to 1963. He was also mayor of North Sydney from 1939 to 1941.
The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of Australia and Coalition partner the National Party of Australia, led by Warren Truss, defeated the incumbent centre-left Labor Party government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a landslide. It was also the third time in history that a party won 90 or more seats at an Australian election. Labor had been in government for six years since being elected in the 2007 election. This election marked the end of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor government and the start of the 9 year long Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Liberal-National Coalition government. Abbott was sworn in by the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, as Australia's new Prime Minister on 18 September 2013, along with the Abbott Ministry. The 44th Parliament of Australia opened on 12 November 2013, with the members of the House of Representatives and territory senators sworn in. The state senators were sworn in by the next Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on 7 July 2014, with their six-year terms commencing on 1 July.
Michelle Anne Rowland is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Division of Greenway in the House of Representatives since 2010. She was a member of the shadow ministry from 2013 to 2022, and was elected President of the New South Wales Labor Party in October 2021. She is now the Minister for Communications in the government of Anthony Albanese following the ALP's victory in the 2022 Australian federal election.
David Bernard Coleman is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Liberal Party and was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2013 federal election, holding the New South Wales seat of Banks. Coleman served as the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention from December 2020 until May 2022. He previously served as Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs in the Morrison government from August 2018, although in December 2019 he took indefinite leave for personal reasons. He had earlier served as Assistant Minister for Finance in the Turnbull government from 2017 to 2018.
The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolution federal election. All 151 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate were up for election.
This is a list of members of the Australian House of Representatives of the 45th Parliament of Australia (2016–2019).
The 45th Parliament of Australia was a meeting of the legislative branch of the Australian federal government, composed of the Australian Senate and the Australian House of Representatives. It met in Canberra from 30 August 2016 to 4 April 2019. The 2016 general election held on 2 July gave the Coalition of the Liberal and National Parties control of the House, albeit with a slimmer majority than the 44th Parliament, allowing their leader Malcolm Turnbull to stay in office as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. During the term of the parliament, the government slipped into minority due to defections and by-elections. The leadership of the government also changed during the parliament, when Scott Morrison replaced Turnbull as Liberal Leader and Prime Minister in August 2018. The 45th Parliament was officially prorogued by the Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove at 8:29 a.m. on 11 April 2019, and the House of Representatives dissolved at 8:30 a.m.
Starting in July 2017, the eligibility of several members of the Parliament of Australia was questioned. Referred to by some as a "constitutional crisis", fifteen sitting politicians were ruled ineligible by the High Court of Australia or resigned pre-emptively. The situation arose from section 44(i) of the Australian Constitution, which prohibits parliamentarians from having allegiance to a foreign power, especially citizenship. On that basis, the High Court had previously held that dual citizens are ineligible for election unless they have taken "reasonable steps" to renounce the foreign citizenship before nomination.
A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Bennelong was held on 16 December 2017.
The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, sought to win a fourth consecutive term in office but was defeated by the opposition Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese. Up for election were all 151 seats in the lower house, the House of Representatives, as well as 40 of the 76 seats in the upper house, the Senate.
Jason Yat-Sen Li is an Australian businessman and politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at the 2022 Strathfield state by-election.
At the close of nominations a total of 1,624 candidates had stood for the 2022 Australian federal election, of whom 1,203 were House of Representatives candidates and 421 were Senate candidates.
Jerome Alexandre Alain Laxale is an Australian politician as a member for the Australian Labor Party (ALP), representing as the Member of Parliament for Bennelong after being elected at the 2022 federal election.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
