Ian Christopher Alexander (born 14 April 1947) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

from 1987 to 1993, representing the seat of Perth. He was elected as a representative of the Labor Party, but in 1991 left the party to sit as an independent.

Early life

Alexander was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England, to Elsie Louise (née Chatterley) and Solomon Schechter Alexander.Ian Christopher Alexander
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 10 May 2016. His father was a grandson of

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter (‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the ...

, a Romanian Jew who later became a Jewish community leader in the United States. Alexander and his family arrived in Western Australia in April 1951, where he attended

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, coeducational Primary school, primary and Secondary school, se ...

. He went on to the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in geography in 1968 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1970. Alexander subsequently completed a

Master of Philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

in town planning in 1972, at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, and then a doctorate in urban research in 1981, at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a lecturer at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT).

Politics

Alexander served on the Perth City Council from 1982 to 1985. He had joined the Labor Party in 1972, and was elected to state parliament at the 1987 Perth by-election, caused by the resignation of Terry Burke. Alexander retained his seat at the 1989 state election, albeit with a significantly reduced margin. However, in March 1991 he resigned from the Labor Party to sit as an independent, citing "frequent breaches of the party's basic principles and platforms".
Alexander did not contest his seat at the 1993 election, and after leaving parliament returned to work as a university lecturer at the University of Western Australia. He joined the

Greens Western Australia The Greens (WA) is a member party of the Australian Greens in Western Australia. The Greens (WA) was formed following the merger of the Western Australian Green Party with the Green Earth Alliance composed of the Vallentine Peace Group and Alt ...

in 1995, and at the 2001 state election unsuccessfully stood as the Greens candidate for the seat of Fremantle.

References

External links

Parliament of WA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Ian 1947 births Living people Alumni of the University of London Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian National University alumni Australian people of Romanian-Jewish descent Academic staff of Curtin University English emigrants to Australia Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People educated at Guildford Grammar School University of Western Australia alumni Academic staff of the University of Western Australia Perth City Councillors Independent members of the Parliament of Western Australia Greens Western Australia politicians

Early life

Politics

See also

References

External links