Before entering politics, Alexander was a restaurateur in Christchurch, and also co-hosted a cooking program on local television.
He was also a spokesperson for the Sensible Sentencing Trust, a group which lobbies for reforms in the criminal justice system.
[1] After the 2005 general election, Alexander left the United Future Party, where many thought his atheistic, libertarian views clashed with the social conservatism of the majority (not to mention the willingness of the Party to support a Labour-led government).
Although he voted against both the Prostitution Reform Act and the Civil Union Act (two pieces of legislation strongly opposed by Christian groups), he claims he did so due to concerns over the effects of the legislation as written, rather than any ideological opposition.
[2] At this time he resigned his position with Sensible Sentencing, since the Trust's rules require all spokespeople to be politically unaligned.