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Alex Leemon's avatar

I should also note, that much like urban explorers deep in the forgotten stations of the metro discovering the graff kids have been already been there, Marcus has of course already been here: https://wongm.com/2011/11/yallourn-power-station-then-and-now/

Glenne Drover's avatar

a correction on privatisation. many people get this wrong. Joan Kirner LAB Gov started privatisation, not Jeff Kennett.

1992 (Joan Kirner Labor Government): The first significant privatisation step occurred when the government sold 51% of the Loy Yang B power station, which had been part of the SECV system. This is generally regarded as the beginning of electricity privatisation in Victoria.

1992 Election: Labor lost office and Jeff Kennett became Premier.

1993-1999 (Kennett Liberal Government): The SECV was broken up into separate generation, transmission, distribution and retail businesses, with most of these entities subsequently sold to private owners. This was the large-scale privatisation that most Victorians associate with the end of the SEC.

Alex Leemon's avatar

Thanks Glenne!

Good point about the LYB sale

Mitten's avatar

I love this. Thank you. Maybe your next history moment side bar could be the historical power station in central Tasmania - Waddamana -it is an amazing tour for anyone visiting Tas and hats off to whoever preserved it

Alex Leemon's avatar

Got a couple more Victorian history ones in the drafts, but would love to write about the early Hydro days!

Tom Fairman's avatar

This is my sort of stuff. Love it. As a side note, i am pretty certain when Dan Andrews and his Merry Ministers announced the revival of the neo SEC in 2022 (or whenever it was), the announcement was out the front of the Whitehouse. High on symbolism, though given its recent history, I'm not sure exactly what of.

Alex Leemon's avatar

🙌🏻 (and some more coming in this vein)

You’re 100% right — I nearly included a presser from Andrews announcing the SECV 2.0 revival from this building. And as a true politician he couldn’t help himself from taking a few cheap shots at Kennett 😂

The comments below the post were pretty brutal.

Tom Fairman's avatar

Not surprising RE brutal comments. I suspect for people who lived through the 80s/90s SEC, they were probably fairly consignant that what happened to the Valley was a bipartisan effort (at least with the privatisation of other public assets, like the plantation estate, the general view is Kennett started off what Cain/Kirner began) and there's a healthy suspicion of politicians of all stripes.