Ben Oquist

Public record

Oquist has been lauded for his "skills as a political operative" by some commentators. In his past role as an advisor to the Australian Greens he has been described 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. Oquist was reported to have been favoured by Brown for preselection as Greens senator for NSW in 2003.

The Australia Institute

Oquist became Executive Director of The Australia Institute in June 2015. Under the new leadership the Institute claimed in its own publications that it continued to grow in size, in terms of budget, staff and political impact. The Australia Institute's impact on the 2016 budget was noted by the left-aligned Saturday Paper.

The Australian Greens

Oquist began working with the Australian Greens in 1996 for both Dee Margetts and Bob Brown. Upon the resignation of Senator Bob Brown on 13 April 2012 Oquist stayed on with the Greens, becoming chief of staff for new leader Christine Milne. 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. In one report it was stated that insiders believed Oquist was motivated by a desire to act to remove Milne before she effectively had him removed through restructuring of the organisation to remove his influence. 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. Oquist is a regular guest on Agenda (Sky News Australia), The Drum, and a regular column writer for outlets including Guardian Australia, Crikey and the ABC.