Jason and Lee Mackay have always called Victoria’s Latrobe Valley home.
They’ve worked hard throughout their fifteen years of marriage, raising their four children, and finally building their dream home in Traralgan last year.
But their livelihood is now under threat.
The Hazelwood Power Station will shut its doors in less than forty days and Jason will be out of a job.
For 52 years, the Hazelwood Power Station – one of three in the Latrobe Valley – has been supplying up to 25 per cent of the state’s energy and generations of employment to locals. Entire families work at the station.
The plant’s owner ENGIE announced the closure as part of its plan to concentrate on low-carbon projects for power generation – which means it’s a great move for the environment but not for the locals whose income depends on coal.
On a special edition of Insight tonight, the show will travel to the Latrobe Valley to meet the Mackay's and other locals who are on the front line of these debates.
Lee Mackay told Mamamia that they can't even imagine leaving their local community to find work.
"That's just not an option for us," she said, "We love living here, our kids are here, we've got family here."
"We've got a daughter in the cemetery, we just can't move on from here."
Both Lee and Jason grew up in the Latrobe Valley; Jason on a local farm and Lee in the town of Churchill.
It's the only home they've ever known.
The Latrobe Valley is a community built around the power stations. Both Lee's grandparents emigrated to Australia to work in the Valley and Lee's father also worked at the stations.