Jacinta Allan is using Labor’s final state conference before the election to announce a plan that sounds suspiciously like bringing back something that was working fine until someone sold it off. The Victorian premier will unveil a proposal for a government-owned electricity body to hire 2,000 electrical apprentices over four years across two training facilities in Melbourne and regional Victoria, with the first intake in January 2027. This marks the first time since the State Electricity Commission was privatised 30 years ago that the government has employed such apprentices - because nothing says “learning from history” like resurrecting a body Jeff Kennett killed in the 1990s.
Allan’s speech will draw heavily on her father Peter Allan’s experience as a linesman at the SEC, which was revived by Daniel Andrews in 2023. In a forward copy of the speech seen by Guardian Australia, Allan describes the former state-owned energy provider as a training ground for “thousands of apprentices” before it was shut down. “You joined young, got trained, got qualified and built a career for life. And you were part of a community that looked out for your family. That bond that kept people together,” it says. “Until one day when I came home, and mum said to me quietly, ‘I think your father’s lost his job.’” Peter Allan will also be awarded life membership of the party on Saturday, which is either a touching tribute or a warning about what happens when your daughter becomes premier.
The two-day event will also involve signing off on the party’s election platform, a draft of which includes proposals to “consider the benefits of a reduced workweek” (because who wouldn’t want to work less?), introduce a minimum of 12 days’ reproductive health leave each year (a move aimed at making life easier for people with uteruses), and decriminalise the personal and recreational use of cannabis to free up police resources and reduce the “unnecessary criminalisation of vulnerable communities”. Because nothing says “progressive” like finally admitting that policing weed is a waste of time.
Apprenticeship numbers have been declining nationally even as demand for electricians rises amid the clean energy transition, prompting concern from industry and construction groups. Research from Jobs and Skills Australia projects a shortfall of up to 42,000 electricians by 2030, thanks in part to students being steered away from apprenticeships toward higher education, employers not having a clear return on investment, and a shortage of qualified trainers. In her speech, Allan says SEC apprentices will “build a career together” - presumably while helping to prevent the grid from collapsing.
The state conference also serves as a soft launch for Labor’s election campaign, with Allan’s speech characterising the November poll as a choice between her party’s reforms to “make life easier, safer and more affordable”, and Liberal “cuts”. Because nothing says “campaign strategy” like reminding voters of the opposition’s favourite hobby.
Rank-and-file members and unions will also get the chance to debate urgent resolutions, including motions calling on the federal government to impose higher taxes on gas companies and to support the full recommendations of Peta Murphy’s inquiry into gambling harm. Another, put forward by Labor Against War, calls on the state conference to strongly condemn the US and Israel’s “wars of aggression against Iran and Lebanon and the heavy losses of civilian life”. Motions are also directed at the Victorian government, calling on it to make public transport free permanently (good luck with that), end imprisonment as a punishment for unpaid fines (a radical concept), abandon its plans to absorb VicHealth into the Department of Health (bureaucracy wars!), secure the future of cohealth, and ensure public hospital patients are no longer charged up to $15 a day to watch free-to-air television (because nothing says “public health” like charging sick people to watch reruns of Friends).
Another motion urges the government to introduce a framework for datacentre development, which would include a requirement that all new datacentres “fully offset emissions and become a net contributor to renewable energy production”. This is particularly interesting given that late last year, the premier said she wanted the state to become “Australia’s datacentre capital” - a goal that apparently includes making sure those datacentres don’t destroy the planet.
While non-binding on state or federal Labor MPs, the motions represent one of the most effective ways for members and unions to influence party policy. Last year, the Victorian conference carried a motion calling on the federal government to recognise Palestine, which it did three months later. So, you know, sometimes these things actually work.
Anthony Albanese is expected to attend on Saturday, after missing last year’s event - presumably because he had a scheduling conflict with “being prime minister”. Meanwhile, the Liberal party will also gather for its annual state council, with opposition leader Angus Taylor also attending. Because why should Labor have all the fun of internal debates and awkward photo ops?
The state opposition leader, Jess Wilson, will use the event to revive a commitment from the 2022 election to allocate 25% of all new infrastructure spending to regional Victoria - a promise that may or may not be remembered by voters. The Liberals’ state executive is also up for election, with the party president, Philip Davis, expected to step down and former federal director, Brian Loughnane, the sole candidate to replace him. Because nothing says “democracy” like a single candidate.
Liberal members will also debate motions to lower the age for obtaining a probationary driving licence to 17 (because teenagers definitely need more freedom behind the wheel), prevent local governments from banning citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day (culture wars, anyone?), and halt the redevelopment of the state’s public housing towers, pending a review (because sometimes the best way to fix a problem is to study it into oblivion).