Liberal Party stalwart Oliver Yates to challenge for Frydenberg’s seat over climate change inaction

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.

Oliver Yates, the son of former Liberal MP William Yates, will challenged Josh Frydenberg.

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.

Oliver Yates, a long-time Liberal Party donor and member, says he “had to” run because the Morrison government had “no integrity” and no “credible” approach to address the nation’s challenges.

RAPID RISE TO THE TOP FOR MAN-IN-A-HURRY

The son of former Liberal MP William Yates says he had given up trying to change the party from within.

The move — to be formally announced on Wednesday — comes after Olympic skier and barrister Zali Steggall announced her run against former prime minister Tony Abbott in the NSW seat of Warringah.

Mr Yates — a former senior executive at Macquarie Bank and the founding chief executive of the CEFC — said he was challenging Mr Frydenberg because he lived in Kew, in the heart of the electorate.

“I’ve been urged to run by members of my local community who are concerned about our future,” he said.

“They’re worried it’s getting hotter and more crowded, and that the government doesn’t seem to be listening.”

He said policy failings on climate change threatened the safety, security and prosperity of the nation.

“The government has no plan to provide the infrastructure for the growing population. People

are fed up with lack of vision for the future.

Polling has showed the Coalition risks losing the electorate once held by Australia’s longest-serving prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, with massive swings against the Liberals at a state level last November.

Mr Yates said politics was “broken” but local communities would have their say in May.

He said he understood it would be a “tall order” to win the seat but said he’d been door-knocking on election campaign since he was a children and was “in it to win it”.

Mr Frydenberg told the Herald Sun last month there was “no such thing as a safe seat”

“Each election, you have to work hard to win the respect and the confidence of your constituents.

“I’ll be doing everything I can to ensure that occurs at the upcoming election.”

[e-mail]

The Herald Sun app is simply better
Tailor your experience to get more of the stories you want. Packed with easy-to-use features including live sport scores, Herald Sun digital edition daily, breaking news feed, puzzles and persistent log-in for subscribers. For Apple and Android