A drop in the number of children living in Victoria's Latrobe Valley has been blamed on the privatisation of the state's power industry in the 1990s.

Key points: The total number of primary and secondary students in the Latrobe City municipality dropped from 15,301 in 1990 to 11,392 in 2018

The total number of primary and secondary students in the Latrobe City municipality dropped from 15,301 in 1990 to 11,392 in 2018 A 2001 report found the number of people employed in the power industry dropped from about 11,000 in the late 1980s to about 2,600 in 2001

A 2001 report found the number of people employed in the power industry dropped from about 11,000 in the late 1980s to about 2,600 in 2001 The drop in the number of children living in the area is being attributed to privatisation of the power industry

The Latrobe Valley, east of Melbourne, is home to Victoria's coal-fired power stations and boomed as the industry grew in the post-war period.

But the rationalisation and privatisation of the state's power industry in the 1990s resulted in thousands of jobs being lost, business closures, a drop in house prices and an exodus of people.

An analysis of Census and school enrolment figures shows the region is still dealing with the after effects.

Victorian Department of Education figures show the total number of primary and secondary students in the Latrobe City municipality dropped from 15,301 in 1990 to 11,392 in 2018.

The Census figures paint a similar picture, with the number of people aged between five and 14 falling from 10,846 in 2001 to 8,897 in 2016.

This phenomenon is not repeated in neighbouring municipalities or in Victoria's other regional cities, the data shows.

Lack of job opportunities

Demographics expert Bernard Salt said the drop was a result of fewer job opportunities in the region.

"Any loss during the school years is connected to movements by parents," Mr Salt said.

"And in the case of the Latrobe Valley it would be the rationalisation of the power generation industry from the mid-1990s onwards".

He said the outcome was an "an erosion of the school-age population".

Mr Salt said it also meant a "softening of housing values as 30-somethings and 40-somethings put their homes on the market and find work elsewhere, taking their five-14 year-old kids with them".

His analysis was supported by Census figures, which showed the number of 35 to 44-year-olds dropping from 10,150 in 2001 to 8,337 in 2016.

A major economic shock

A front page of the local newspaper, the Latrobe Valley Express, from 1994 featuring an article about then Victorian premier Jeff Kennett's plans to privatise the power industry. ( ABC Gippsland: Jarrod Whittaker )

In 2001, Dr Bob Birrell from the Australian Population Research Institute, investigated the impact of power industry privatisation on the Latrobe Valley.

Dr Birrell found the benefits of restructuring Victoria's power industry went to electricity consumers, mostly based in Melbourne, while the pains of the restructure were felt in the Latrobe Valley.

The report found the number of people employed in the power industry dropped from about 11,000 in the late 1980s to about 2,600 in 2001.

Dr Birrell also found about nine per cent of the region's residents left between 1991 and 1996.

Since then, the region has lost the Hazelwood power station, which closed in 2017 and resulted in 750 jobs being lost.

"Now, I think another factor that's contributed to the low population growth in the Latrobe Valley is the huge attraction of metropolitan Melbourne," Dr Birrell said.

"Its rapid growth and population and jobs, as well as the other attractions of a big city for young people, has meant a continued loss of young people finishing their high-school education and going to Melbourne.

Have skills, will travel

Latrobe City mayor Graeme Middlemiss says the region's population was hit by the privatisation of the power industry. ( ABC Gippsland: Jarrod Whittaker )

Latrobe City Mayor Graeme Middlemiss worked in the power industry during the privatisation era and said those who lost their jobs, but had skills, simply took them elsewhere.

"They were able to sell their house, move, get a good job, start life elsewhere," Cr Middlemiss said.

"Those who didn't have transportable skills — and there were thousands of those — were left here and it was hard to find jobs."

The gloomy predictions for the Latrobe Valley ahead of the Hazelwood closure have not eventuated, however.

Since the plant closed, the region's unemployment rate has fallen from eight per cent to 5.7 per cent.

More than 1,000 jobs have also been created since the closure.

But Cr Middlemiss said the problem was new jobs created since the closure were not as lucrative as high-income power industry jobs.

Football on the front foot

Moe Junior Football Club president Mark Walsh says his club turned to netball as a way to reinvigorate itself and boost numbers. ( ABC Gippsland: Jarrod Whittaker )

Like many regional areas, sporting clubs in the Latrobe Valley are finding it more difficult to attract players but some are attempting to address the issue.

Moe Junior Football Club president Mark Walsh said the impact of a smaller population was being felt across the community.

"Obviously, with the Hazelwood power station, it's created a huge impact," Mr Walsh said.

"If we continue to close and we don't have any industry support from the government it will continue to get harder and harder," Mr Walsh said.

Faced with declining numbers, his club decided to branch out into netball as a way to increase the number of players and volunteers.

"It is definitely something we believe is a huge stepping stone, not just from the junior perspective, but having kids playing football for Moe but also netball for Moe in the future," Mr Walsh said.

In the neighbouring town of Morwell, the two junior football clubs merged to become one.

The merger paid off when the under-14s won the premiership last year.

Morwell Junior Football Club president Chris Gaunt has run school clinics and said his main problem wasn't a shortage of children in town.



"The club itself is in a really good position, it's just trying to get kids to come down and put the boots on I guess," Mr Gaunt said.

Morwell Junior Football Club president Chris Gaunt. ( ABC Gippsland: Jarrod Whittaker )



Liveability focus



Latrobe City wants to attract more high-skilled, high-paying industries to the region but understands it is competing with other regional centres across the country.

Cr Middlemiss said to attract those industries the Latrobe Valley needed to boost its liveability by improving community facilities and making the region a nice place to live.



Since the Hazelwood closure, money has been spent upgrading sporting facilities and a new performing arts centre and indoor aquatics centre are being built in the commercial centre of Traralgon.

"There are new facilities being built everywhere. We're upgrading sporting facilities," Cr Middlemiss said.