Andrew Olexander (born February 26, 1965) is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council since 1999, representing Silvan Province. He is currently the only openly gay member of the Victorian Parliament, although he is also known for being one of its most conservative members.
Olexander 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 found himself promoted to the ministry, taking on the portfolios of Youth, Arts and Consumer Affairs in December 2002. During 2002 and 2003, he also served on the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. While in the ministry, Olexander was particularly active in his criticism of art he deemed unnecessarily controversial.
In the early hours of July 11, 2004, Olexander was driving home when he crashed his 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 has 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. He subsequently insisted that the discrepancy resulted from a bureaucratic mistake.
