State-sponsored apprenticeships and decriminalising cannabis on the bill at Victoria’s Labor conference | Jacinta Allan
Jacinta Allan will use Labour’s final state conference before the election to announce a plan for a government-owned electrical utility to recruit electrical apprentices to address significant workforce shortages. This will be the first time the government will employ such apprentices since the State Electricity Commission was privatized 30 years ago.
The Victorian premier will unveil the plan in a speech that will draw on the experience of his father, Peter Allan, who worked as a linesman in the SEC, which was revived by Daniel Andrews in 2023 after being privatized by former premier Jeff Kennett in the 1990s.
The two-day event will also include signing the party’s election platform; The draft includes proposals to “consider the benefits of reducing the working week,” introduce at least 12 days of reproductive health leave each year, and decriminalize personal and recreational use of cannabis to free up police resources and reduce “unnecessary criminalization of vulnerable communities.”
In an advance copy of the speech seen by Guardian Australia, Allan describes Victoria’s former state-owned energy provider as a training ground for “thousands of apprentices” before its closure.
“You joined at a young age, trained, qualified and built a career for life. And you were part of a community that looked after your family. It’s the bond that holds people together,” he says.
“Until one day I came home and my mother quietly said to me: ‘I think your father lost his job.’”
Peter Allan will also be given life membership of the party on Saturday.
Under the proposal to be outlined on Saturday, SEC would offer 2,000 apprenticeships over four years at two training sites in Melbourne and regional Victoria, with the first intake in January 2027.
Apprenticeship numbers have been announced is decreasing nationwide Although there is demand for electricians Its rise during the transition to clean energy raises concerns among industry and construction groups.
Research from Jobs and Skills Australia projects There is a shortage of nearly 42,000 electricians By 2030 this will happen, in part, thanks to the diversion of students from apprenticeships to higher education, the inability of employers to provide a clear return on investment, and a shortage of qualified trainers.
Allan said in his speech: SEC apprentices will “build careers together.”
The state conference marks a soft start to Labor’s election campaign; Allan’s speech described the November poll as a choice between his party’s reforms to “make life easier, safer and more affordable” and Liberal “cuts”.
Rank-and-file members and unions will also have the chance to discuss urgent decisions. These include motions calling on the federal government to impose higher taxes on gas companies and support all the recommendations of Peta Murphy’s inquiry into the harm of gambling.
Another statement 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 casualties suffered by civilians.”
Motions are also being tabled calling on the Victorian government to make public transport free permanently, end imprisonment as a penalty for unpaid fines, abandon plans to incorporate VicHealth into the Department of Health, secure the future of shared health and ensure public hospital patients are no longer charged up to $15 a day to watch free television.
Another calls on the government to implement a framework for data center development that would include a requirement that all new data centers “fully offset emissions and become a net contributor to renewable energy production”.
Late last year the prime minister said he wanted the state to become the “data center capital of Australia”.
Although not binding on state or federal Labor MPs, motions represent one of the most effective ways for members and unions to influence party policy. Last year the Victorian conference passed a motion calling on the federal government to recognize Palestine, which it did three months later.
Anthony Albanese is expected to attend on Saturday after missing last year’s event.
Meanwhile, the Liberal party will also meet for its annual state council and opposition leader Angus Taylor will also attend.
The state’s opposition leader Jess Wilson will use the event to: Revitalizing determination in the 2022 elections Allocating 25% of all new infrastructure spending to regional Victoria.
The Liberals’ provincial government is also preparing for the election; Party chairman Philip Davis is expected to resign and former federal director Brian Loughnane is the only candidate to replace him.
Liberal members will also debate motions to lower the age for obtaining a probationary license to 17, stop local governments from banning citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day and halt the redevelopment of the state’s public housing towers pending a review.
