Oliver Yates

Oliver Yates is an Australian businessman and public figure.[1][2][3][4][5]

He was the inaugural head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation between 2012 and 2017,[6][2][7][8] where he was involved in arranging approval for Australia's first offshore wind farm, 'the Star of the South'.[9][5]

He is known also known for his unsuccessful run as an independent political candidate against Josh Frydenberg in the seat of Kooyong in 2019.[7][8][10] This run was credited by Monique Ryan and by the media as being a factor in Ryan's victory over Frydenberg on a teal independent ticket at the following election.[11][12] Ryan's campaign was supported using political infrastructure established by Yates at the previous election.[13]

Career

Yates spent 20 years working at Macquarie Group.[14] He is the former chief executive of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.[15]

Politics

Yates ran in the federal electorate of Kooyong in 2019, as an independent, receiving 9% of the primary vote. His campaign was partly funded by the Australian billionaire Simon Holmes a Court, after he was kicked out of the Kooyong200 club due to pressure from Frydenberg in retaliation for writing an op-ed supporting the closure of AGL's coal-fired liddle power station.[16][17]

In August 2019, Yates was accused by Liberal Party senator Michael Sukkar via parliamentary privilege of having backed a legal challenge to Josh Frydenberg's 2019 re-election on the basis of Frydenberg's citizenship status (relating to his mother being a holocaust survivor who migrated to Australia from Hungary). No evidence was produced to support Sukkar's allegations.[18]

In response to Sukkar's allegations Yates said;

"They are lying, abusing parliamentary privilege saying rubbish they would not dare say outside of Parliament, ... We need reform of (a) party politics that encourages members to abuse parliamentary privilege for party-political purposes"[19]

Yates was a supporter of an unrelated legal action regarding misleading signage produced by the Liberal Party.[20]

Post-Politics

Following politics, Yates formed an investor shareholder activist group named Sentient Impact Group, formed for the purpose of pressuring businesses into developing strategic plans to align with the Paris Agreement 1.5C target.[1] He was also involved in public advertising efforts in support of Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews during Melbourne's 2020 COVID lockdowns.[2] He has been a public critic of Australia's natural gas policy.[21]

Personal life

Yates is the son of William Yates, who served in both the British House of Commons and the Australian House of Representatives.[22]

References
  1. Parkinson, Giles (2022-06-03). "Oliver Yates leads new push to get AGL out of coal and aligned with Paris target". RenewEconomy. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  2. Hutchinson, Stephen Brook, Samantha (2020-07-29). "CBD Melbourne: We heart Dan, says Oliver Yates". The Age. Retrieved 2023-07-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Vorrath, Sophie (2023-06-28). "Ex-CEFC chief Oliver Yates joins GMR, in new boost to bold big battery plans". RenewEconomy. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  4. Perinotto, Tina (2023-06-29). "Moving on – Greater Sydney Commission, RIAA and Oliver Yates in new gig". The Fifth Estate. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  5. Harris, Rob (30 January 2019). "Liberal Party stalwart Oliver Yates to challenge for Frydenberg's seat over climate change inaction". Herald Sun. The former head of Australia's billion-dollar Clean Energy Finance Corporation will challenge federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg for the heartland Liberal seat of Kooyong.
  6. "Warning for WA government to intervene before embattled coal miners drag power system down". ABC News. 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  7. Murphy, Katharine (2019-01-29). "It's time to 'take out' environment ministers who fail on climate, says Oliver Yates". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  8. "'Liberal party has lost its way': Oliver Yates to run against Josh Frydenberg over climate change". SBS News. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  9. "Slowing down environmental craziness". The Spectator Australia. 2023-06-09. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  10. Karp, Paul (2019-07-25). "Independent Oliver Yates to challenge Liberals' Chinese election signs". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  11. "Kooyong MP Monique Ryan chokes back tears in first speech to parliament". News.com.au. Dr Ryan wasn't the first to be inspired by the Indi movement. She noted the hard work of Oliver Yates who ran before her in 2019.
  12. "Bad Vibes: How a new wave has shaken Josh Frydenberg's throne". Sydney Morning Herald. Yates, a former Liberal who says the party left him when he witnessed Morrison proudly holding a lump of coal, says the experience of running as an independent showed him there was a new "tribe" to be discovered.
  13. "'I ain't no Bambi': How a paediatrician ended up in politics". Sydney Morning Herald. Inspired, Capling asked former renewable energy executive Oliver Yates if she could use Kooyong Independents, the corporate entity he'd kept going since unsuccessfully running against Frydenberg in 2019. It had a database of 600 people and the NationBuilder campaign software, which provides a website and facilitates donations. Yates agreed and in October 2021 Kooyong Independents set about raising money for full-page advertisements in The Age and The Australian Financial Review headlined: ARE YOU THE NEXT MEMBER FOR KOOYONG?.
  14. "Top Carbon Cutters - #4 Oliver Yates". The Australian. It's a fair question. Why would someone who has spent 20 years in the millionaires' factory of Macquarie Bank leave all that to head up the government's new, controversial green bank – which might be shut down before it gets going?.
  15. Patrick, Aaron (12 September 2019). "Liberal Party doubles down with attack on Oliver Yates". Australian Financial Review. The Liberal Party ratcheted up the pressure on Oliver Yates, the former chief executive of the Clean Energy Finance Corp, by accusing him of participating in an antisemitic plot to remove Treasurer Josh Frydenberg from office.
  16. Durkin, Patrick (13 April 2022). "Simon Holmes à Court's personal battle with Josh Frydenberg". Australian Financial Review.
  17. Durkin, Patrick (13 Apr 2022). "Simon Holmes à Court's personal battle with Josh Frydenberg". Holmes à Court was part of Kooyong200, Frydenberg's fundraising arm led by Citi's head of investment banking, Tony Osmond, before he wrote an op-ed in The Guardian in 2018 supporting the closure of AGL's coal-fired Liddell power station and was dumped.
  18. Maiden, Samantha (2019-08-01). "'A total abuse of parliamentary privilege': Oliver Yates slams Sukkar attack". The New Daily. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  19. "Liberal Party doubles down with attack on Oliver Yates". Australian Financial Review. 2019-09-11. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  20. "Challenge to Chinese-language election signs fails to oust Treasurer". ABC News. 2019-12-24. Retrieved 2023-07-06. The court, however, found only a "handful" of people were likely to have been influenced to change their votes by the signs, which were posted at 13 polling stations in Mr Frydenberg's seat of Kooyong and 29 polling booths in Ms Liu's seat of Chisholm. The case was brought against Ms Liu and Mr Frydenberg, who is the Treasurer, by defeated independent Kooyong candidate Oliver Yates and Chisholm voter Vanessa Garbett.
  21. "How Australia created its own gas price mess". RenewEconomy. 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  22. "Should Josh Frydenberg be worried about losing his seat to an independent?". ABC News. 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2023-07-06. A former Liberal Party member and son of former federal Liberal MP William Yates, Oliver Yates said the party's attitude to climate change is reckless.
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