A pre-election pledge to train an army of apprentices to secure Victoria's future is seemingly close to Jacinta Allan's heart.
That though has not stopped the opposition going for the jugular.
Proposing on Saturday an academy offering 2000 electrical trades positions over the next four years, the premier recounted the story of her father Peter.
He was a linesman at the State Electricity Commission but lost his job when Jeff Kennett's Liberal government privatised the utility in the 1990s.
"The SEC was a skilled job for life - then the Liberals got elected," Ms Allan told Labor's state conference in Melbourne.
"Workers were cut and it was all smashed in a heartbeat.
"Kennett didn't respect the lineys and sparkies, he didn't rate them. He saw them as expenses, not people."
