Cr Andrew Rowse was elected to the City of Melbourne in 2024 and has since joined the Australian Democrats. On council he heads the Innovation and Education portfolio, is deputy for City Economy and Business, and represents the council on its Design Excellence Advisory Committee.
A North Melbourne local, Andrew trained as a mechanical engineer at the University of Melbourne, leading a university motorsport team along the way, before moving into sports marketing and event management. He went back to study entrepreneurship at the Wade Institute and founded a startup building robotic technology to help stroke survivors through rehabilitation.
That led to close to a decade in Melbourne’s innovation industry, helping researchers, startups and young innovators turn good ideas into real businesses. At the University of Melbourne he helped build its research translation and startup training programs and the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre, where he was Director of Programs.
As a councillor he wants the city’s startup and research community to keep growing as Melbourne matures, and Melbourne to be a place global talent wants to live and work. In May 2026 councillors backed his motion on generative AI, workforce change and the knowledge economy, which asks the City to co-host a roundtable with the State Government.
Andrew believes Victoria has enormous untapped potential, too often held back by short-term politics, needless bureaucracy and a fear of doing things differently. For him, it’s not about left versus right — it’s about what moves Victoria forward.
In our words, from: the City of Melbourne’s page for Cr Rowse (his portfolios, studies, Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre role and council contact details) and its feature Meet Councillor Andrew Rowse (his career, startup and aims); CBD News (North Melbourne, the May 2026 motion); and his own biography for the party (his work with founders, and the last paragraph).