John Alexander

At 72 years old, John Alexander has this physical status:

John Gilbert Alexander (born 4 July 1951) is an Australian politician and former professional tennis player. Alexander, a tennis player, earned a career-best singles ranking of No. 1. In 1975, the world's eighth top-ranked score was ranked 8.

He has appeared in the semifinals of the Australian Open singles three times, and has won the doubles in 1975 and 1982.

He also played for the Australian team that lifted the 1977 Davis Cup.

Alexander began working as a tennis commentator and worked with a number of sports-related companies after he finished his playing career. Alexander gained the Division of Bennelong for the Liberal Party in the 2010 election and reserving the position in 2013 and 2016.

He resigned as a result of constitutional ineligibility owing to his dual citizenship of the United Kingdom.

He renounced his UK citizenship and stood as the Liberal Party candidate at the by-election on December 16, 2017, which he won.

Early life

Alexander was born in Sydney. Gilbert Alexander, his father, was born in Essex, England, in 1907 and moved to Australia at the age of three.

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Tennis career

Alexander won seven tour singles and 27 doubles titles from the late 1960s to mid-1980s, earning a total of $1,214,079 (USD) in prize money. He earned his highest singles ranking of the World No. 1 during his career. In December 1975, there were 8 people in the world. Alexander is Australia's youngest representative in the Davis Cup. He was also one of Australia's longest-serving Davis Cup players, representing his country from 1968 to 1983. Alexander served as the resident tennis professional at Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis Peachtree World of Tennis Club in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, from 1974 to 1986.

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 more than 20 years.

Business career

Alexander, as managing director of Next Generation Clubs Australia, designed and built sport and fitness clubs, including the Sydney Olympic Games water polo event, the expansion of Memorial Drive in Adelaide into a multi-function health and fitness center, and Royal King's Park in Perth.

During the first series run of the Australian version of the television show Gladiators in 1995, Alexander served as referee.

Alexander's Tennis Professionals successfully defended the White City Tennis Center in Sydney shortly before his 2010 election to Parliament.

Alexander has worked with a variety of small businesses in the retail and sporting industries.

Political career

Alexander is a member of the Moderate/Modern Liberal Party's Moderate/Modern Liberal group.

John Alexander, a Liberal Party candidate, gained the seat of Bennelong from the Australian Labor Party in the 2010 election by a margin of 3.1 points, giving a two-party victory a two-point margin.

On October 28, 2010, Alexander made his first speech to parliament, addressing his special interest in areas of preventative health, infrastructure, transportation, and sustainable growth. During his first term as Prime Minister Alexander, he was in charge of several internal policy committees, with a particular emphasis on urban growth and urban congestion.

Alexander conducted the inaugural Bennelong Cup Table Tennis Test match in Ryde, a suburb within his constituency, in October 2011. The inaugural sporting tournament in Canberra, Australia, was held in October 2012. Ambassadors for China and Korea were invited to compete in a friendly tournament with Alexander and Minister for Sport Kate Lundy. The Bennelong Cup is the culmination of Alexander's Bennelong Schools Table Tennis Program, which has been implemented in all 40 Bennelong schools to promote social interaction among students of various cultural backgrounds as well as healthy fitness. Every year, the Bennelong Cup has been held in Ryde, following an interschool tournament and international competition, followed by exhibition matches in Parliament House, Canberra.

Alexander has also developed a variety of other local businesses, including Bennelong Gardens, which provides work to people with disabilities in specially designed market gardens, and Bennelong Village Business, which promotes the benefits of local small business shopping and negotiates discounted advertising rates for small businesses in the local newspaper. After the death of two close friends to the condition, John Alexander's 100 km charity walk around Bennelong to raise funds and awareness of motor neurone disease.

Alexander was not elected in Liberal preselection in 2012. Alexander was re-elected as Member for Bennelong in the 2013 election, raising his two-party preferred margin to 7.8 points.

Alexander was elected chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax & Revenue in September 2013, a position in which he focused on increasing access to 'light touch' tax returns for individuals with simple tax issues. Following this, he was named chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics, where he sparked an inquiry into home ownership and tax reform. Following Malcolm Turnbull's ascension to Prime Minister John Alexander, he was named chair of the newly formed House Standing Committee on Transportation, Transport, & Cities, where he started an inquiry into transportation connectivity, regional growth, high-speed rail, and the use of value capture as an innovative funding strategy.

Alexander also served as chair of the Coalition Policy Committees on Infrastructure & Regional Development, and Tourism, of the Sydney Airport Community Forum, and the Australia-East Asia Parliamentary Network.

Alexander, a strong advocate for high-speed rail links Australia's eastern seaboard, delivered the keynote address at a high-speed rail conference at University of Melbourne in February 2014, highlighting the resultant potential for regional expansion and reduced traffic congestion in major cities.

Alexander was not assassinated in Liberal preselection in 2016. Despite the state - and the country - swinging toward Labor, he was re-elected as member for Bennelong in the 2016 race, winning just marginally in the direction of Labor. Alexander's clout in Bennelong was mainly due to his strong personal vote in the population.

Alexander may also be a British citizen, and therefore not eligible for election to the Parliament during the Australian parliamentary election campaign on November 6, 2017. Alexander resigned from parliament on November 11 after revealing that he was possibly a dual citizen, requiring a by-election in Bennelong. At the by-election held on December 16, 2017, he renounced his UK citizenship and ran as the Liberal Party candidate. A YouTube video of Alexander in the 1990s, which was posted in 2011, was revived in the media. Alexander appears to be making racial jokes at an end of-year party with a film crew from the 1990s television show Gladiators. Alexander immediately released a written statement describing how the jokes were "completely insensitive" after the footage was posted on ABC. "There is no place for jokes about women in the workplace," Alexander continued. I apologise unreservedly." Malcolm Turnbull, the Prime Minister of Australia, lauded Alexander's words, saying his apology was "a measure of the man." Not all disrespect of women results in violence against women, but there is still plenty of abuse against women that needs to be addressed, so all violence against women must begin. "John has done so." Kristina Keneally, Alexander's most popular rival in the by-election, gathered with then opposition leader Bill Shorten in Eastwood to attend the incident. "The remarks are crass, they're wrong, they're stupid, and the apology is 22 years late," Shorten said. Mr Shorten denied allegations that Labour had purposefully sourced the footage in an attempt to annoy Alexander during the campaign. Despite this setback, Alexander was re-elected despite facing a 4.8 percent two-party opposition in Keneally and Labour, despite the fact that the two parties' preferred vote against him was a landslide. The Liberal Party's clout in Bennelong has dropped from 9.72% to 4.8 percent, putting the party in a vulnerable position for the Coalition's most vulnerable position after John Howard's reliance on preference votes in 2004 to hold the seat by 4.3 percent.

Alexander was scrutinized for his remarks in reaction to Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama in the run-up to the 2019 election. To which Bainimarama had requested that the Australian Government "please refrain from burning coal because the water level is just rising and it's affecting our communities," Alexander said "move to the higher ground." Alexander enthrashed his audience by saying, "It's very much like your house is on fire, and your children are in the house" – should you call the fire brigade and get the children out of the house? "He [Alexander] says if the house is on fire to get out, he is insulted by his Labour opponent, Brian Owler, who said that "he [Alexander] says if the house is on fire to get out." Well, we don't have a second home or planet to run to. It would be better if we didn't start the fire in the first place," the first writer says. In a formal address to Fiji press members, Bainimarama told Alexander that "Fiji is lucky that we even have the high ground to allow for relocation at all." I'm curious to hear what Alexander thinks the people of Kiribati should do in the face of rising seas, where the country's highest point stands at just 1.8 meters above sea level. Alexander continued to appear on ABC Radio, confirming that adaptation was "a priority" and that "we must also do something to prevent further harm to our climate." Despite the scandal, Alexander remained loyal to Bennelong despite losing a 2.8% swing away from him.

Alexander did not run for office in November 2021, opting to withdraw from politics in November 2021. Alexander spoke with Paul Bongiorno of The Saturday Paper shortly after his appointment, focusing on his work and time in office. Alexander chastised Prime Minister Scott Morrison, saying that "people are sick of the way we communicate with each other." All we do is bash each other." Alexander'reserves his highest salvos for the leadership of the Coalition government,' writes Bongiorno, who says 'if Labor's Anthony Albanese wins the election, policies that better reflect the national interest rather than narrow sectoral interest will be implemented.' According to ABC election analyst Antony Green, this knowledge was deemed "harmful" for the Coalition, with Bennelong being named as a "key seat" for the forthcoming election. In nearly 80 years, Bennelong has only been crowned by labor.

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