Ben Oquist

Benjamin Richard "Ben" Oquist is Executive Director of The Australia Institute and a former chief of staff of Senator Christine Milne and former Senator Bob Brown of the Australian Greens.

Public Record

Oquist has been lauded for his 'skills as a political operative'. A sometimes controversial figure he has been described in a former role as an advisor to the Australian Greens as the holder of an 'awesome amount of power' and 'effectively a gatekeeper to Bob [Brown]'. Senator Milne has described him as an adherent to a hierarchical administrative structure, citing this as the reason behind his subsequent departure from his role on the Greens staff.

In 2006 Oquist attracted the ire of the then Australian Democrats spokesperson Andrew Bartlett over Oquist's criticism of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) legislation. Bartlett accused Oquist of being an environmental 'fundamentalist' over his criticisms of the World Wildlife Fund and blamed an eagerness to score political points.

Also in 2006 Oquist issued an aggressive assault against Peter Garrett's foray into Victorian state politics, lambasting Garrett for getting "down in the muck with the best of them" and recommending that he campaign in "the outer suburban Melbourne marginals where his “bogan appeal” could have helped defeat anti-environment Liberals".

Bob Brown and Christine Milne

Oquist began working with the Australian Greens in 1996 for both Dee Margetts and Bob Brown. Upon the resignation of Senator Bob Brown Oquist stayed on with the Greens, becoming chief of staff for new leader Christine Milne. Senator Brown has described Oquist as a 'friend and confidant' but also as 'a core factor in the Greens becoming the third largest party in Australian politics'. In a 2014 radio interview Brown stated that Oquist’s approach to strategy aligned with that of his own.

In September 2013 Oquist was implicated in an attempt to unseat the then leader of the Australian Greens, Christine Milne. Following revelations of his involvement he stepped down from a long-term involvement which began with his role as political advisor to the former leader, Senator Bob Brown. His subsequent commencement with the Australia Institute aligned him with the economist and then Executive Director of the Australia Institute Richard Denniss. Denniss is also an outspoken critic of Christine Milne and a former Australian Greens staffer.

Oquist was widely sourced for comment on the occasion of the resignation of Christine Milne as leader of the Australian Greens in May, 2015 where he praised her role as a climate leader.

Al Gore, Clive Palmer and carbon tax repeal

In July 2014 Oquist, at that time a director of the Australia Institute, was named as a party to the meeting between former US Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and Clive Palmer. The meeting was instrumental in a deal brokered between the leader of the Palmer United Party, Clive Palmer, and the federal government of Australia for the concessional repeal of the carbon tax. His role in the context of the repeal was widely reported to be one of pragmatism, driven by a focus on gaining support in particular for the mandated Renewable Energy Target which in 2014 was under imminent threat.

The co-mingling of the Australia Institute and the Palmer United Party has been described as 'strategically masterful' by Bob Brown and supposed by some reports as a means to achieve policy gains advantageous to the environment movement.

Nevertheless, despite the demise of the Palmer United Party senate voting block in 2014, the Senate crossbench didn't vote to repeal the RET.

Career

Oquist is a past president of the Sydney University of Technology Student Association 1991. A 15-year career with Greens leader Bob Brown was broken briefly by a two-year stint with the public affairs company Essential Media Communications. Joining The Australia Institute staff in 2014, he became Executive Director in 2015.

During 2016 Oquist maintained a low profile and received few mentions in the media.