Peter Rae

Peter Elliot Rae AO (born 24 September 1932, Launceston, Tasmania^[1]) was an Australian Senator who represented the Liberal Party for the state of Tasmania. He served as a Senator for from 1967 until his resignation in January 1986.^[2] He was subsequently elected to the division of Bass in the Tasmanian House of Assembly at the February 1986 election.

Rae served as a Shadow Minister with portfolios that included Industry and Commerce, Finance, and Education and Science.^[3]

Rae led a four-year investigation of the capital markets of Australia, particularly the Stock Exchanges. The ‘Rae Report’ led to the establishment of what is now the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. He was also leader of several of the Australian delegations to European Parliament, the Council of Europe and NATO. Senator Rae worked to amend the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies) Bill 1977 to provide for direct election of replacement senators by Tasmanian-style countback, instead of the indirect party political appointment system that was eventually instituted.

Following his period as an elected member, Rae practiced law at Rae & Partners law firm in Tasmania. In the term 1993 - 2004 he served as Chair of the Hydro-Electric Commission.^[4]

In 1999 Rae was made an Officer of the Order of Australia "for service to business and commerce, to the Federal and Tasmanian Parliaments, and to the Aboriginal community of Flinders Island."^[5]

Since November 2003, Rae was Vice President of the World Wind Energy Association and became President in October 2015. Rae is also Honorary Chairman of the International Renewable Energy Alliance (REN Alliance) which is the world alliance of the major world renewable energy associations (bioenergy, hydro, wind, solar and geothermal). He is on the Board of several of the other Alliance partners.

He was Vice Chairman of REN21 (2008-2013) and is a member of the International Jury of the Energy Globe Sustainability Awards.

He was an invited industry delegate to the inaugural International Renewable Energy Conference in Bonn in 2004 and was a member of the United Nations Expert Group as a Lead Reviewer and keynote speaker for the Beijing International Renewable Energy Conference in 2005. He participated in the 2008 Washington Conference as a side event moderator and is a member of the group organising the 2010 Delhi Conference.

Mr Rae has attended the COP meetings from 2000 to 2007 mostly as a member of the Australian delegation. He participated in the 2009 Copenhagen Conference where he chaired a joint side event with the International Renewable Energy Alliance (REN Alliance) and the newly formed International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

He was leader of the Renewable Energy industry delegation to the 14th & 15th sessions of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in New York when energy was the subject. He was the moderator for the Renewable Energy side event at the CSD.

He chaired sessions of the World Energy Conference which was held in Sydney in 2004 and was a key note speaker at the recent National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development held in Canberra.

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