Talal Yassine OAM
Talal Yassine OAM (born 1972) is a successful Sydney-based lawyer, banker and business executive.
Talal began his career as a lawyer with the national law firm, Dunhill Madden Butler later joining PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a Director and Strategist. After nearly a decade at PwC, having advised some of Australia’s leading corporations, Talal joined investment firm, Babcock & Brown as a Director in the Corporate Finance Group and later in the Technical Real Estate Division. Talal is a strong advocate of the electric car revolution and in his capacity as Chief Commercial Officer at Better Place Australia, he is responsible for all aspects of Better Place Australia’s business development and strategic partnerships.
Talal chairs national hearing services chain, Platinum Hearing Pty Limited; chairs Islamic Finance and Investment firm, Crescent Investments Australasia Pty Limited and has served as a Councillor on the Macquarie University Council. He also currently serves on the Board of Sydney Ports Corporation and the Whitlam Institute.
Background and Personal
Talal came to Australia with his parents in 1977 at age 4 and grew up in Western Sydney. Talal is the eldest of eight children, six boys and two girls. He is married to Mona Yassine (Midwife) and has three daughters.
He attended Granville South Public School and Granville Boys High School. He matriculated 1990 and commenced his tertiary studies at the University of Sydney in 1991. In 1993, he transferred to Macquarie University and completed a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (LLB). Talal subsequently completed his Master of Laws (LLM) at Sydney University and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at Deakin University.
Community involvement / Political Career
From his early days, Talal played a leading role in many community groups and associations and as a humans rights lawyer, was an activist against the Howard Government’s anti-[...] laws. As a significant contributor to the campaign, he assisted the ALP in successfully forcing major changes including: narrowing the definition of a [...] act to ensure it specifically targets terrorists and removing any reference to lawful protest such as industrial action; Talal was criticised by the then Minister The Hon. Gary Hardgraves in the Federal Parliament for his activism.
In 2001, Talal was encouraged to stand for pre-selection for the NSW state seat of Auburn, ‘a safe’ Australian Labor Party seat, with a very high proportion of new immigrants. He subsequently withdrew his nomination, in favour of the incumbent The Hon. Barbara Perry.
Better Place Australia came under fire recently for its perceived closeness to government and perceived ensuing potential to secure an unfair advantage over its competitors. In a letter to the Editor of SMH, George Maltabarow, Managing Director of Energy Australia challenged these claims. Although the claims remain unsubstantiated, they continue to be the source of much controversy.
OAM
On Australia Day 2010 Talal was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to business and to the community through a range of education, health and multicultural organisations.
References: 1. http://sydney.edu.au/law/alumni/australiaday.shtml 2. http://www.alumni.sydney.edu.au/s/965/index.aspx?sid=965&gid=1&pgid=1027 3. http://www.companydirectors.com.au/Publications/Company+Director+Magazine/2010/March/News+and+Views+Mar10.htm 4. http://australia.betterplace.com/the-company-leadership-detail/index/id/talal-yassine 5. http://north-shore-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/plugged-in-talal-says-switch-on-to-electric-cars/ 6. http://au.linkedin.com/pub/talal-yassine/4/634/131 7. http://www.sydneyports.com.au/corporation/About_Us/board_of_directors 8. http://www.aussiedeafkids.org.au/people.html 9. http://www.apc2010.com.au/Speakers.htm 10. http://www.platinumearcare.com.au/management.html 11. http://www.whitlam.org/about_us2/board 12. http://www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/liquor_CLAGCA.asp 13. http://crescentinvestments.com.au/our-team.aspx 14. http://au.linkedin.com/pub/talal-yassine/4/634/131 15. http://www.asu.asn.au/media/alpbriefingnote170902.doc 16. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/labor-dumps-its-kingmaker/2006/07/01/1151174437023.html 17. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/labors-other-power-elite-20100802-113aj.html 18. http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansardr/2002-08-28/0121/hansard_frag.pdf 19. http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/blank-ballot-papers-a-hollow-victory-for-cynics-20100816-126vc.html