WHEN corporate high flyer Peter Graham came to the Lithgow University of Western Sydney campus on Wednesday night he was literally returning to where it all began for him.
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Mr Graham was in Lithgow to deliver the latest in the UWS program of free public lectures.
And he told his audience that the college had special significance to him.
It was during the Hoskins Institute’s former life as a library, school of arts and social hub that his parents first met at a dance back in the 1940s.
The rest, as they say, is history. Mr Graham has had a high profile career, first as an army officer then in civilian life as chief executive of the old Pacific Power when it controlled all of the government’s power station’s in NSW.
He later became chief operating officer across Australia for Fairfax Media before taking up held a similar position with the University of NSW.
He is now a director on the boards of UWS College and conducts his own consultancy.
Mr Graham’s topic was ‘leadership in turbulent times’ and it was anything but a dry motivational session.
The witty and informative presentation clearly appealed to another large audience from right across the community, as evidence by the number of questions posed at the conclusion of the session.
Of special interest to many in the audience was his view on the future of coal fired power generation and privatisation, particularly in light of his direct involvement as former CEO of Pacific Power.
Mr Graham said privatisation became inevitable from the time the government split Pacific Power into three trading bodies, all still owned by the government but all three competing against each other as well as on the newly opened national competition market.
He predicted that the days of coal fired generators are numbered but it would not happen in the short term.
He tipped all such generators would be out of business in about 50 years.
It would not happen sooner because of the huge cost of alternative technology.
The advances in clean coal would, however, lead to more environmentally acceptable operations.
He does not believe there will be any more greenfield coal fired power stations constructed in NSW with the possible exception of Mt Piper where the groundwork for a further two units has already been completed.
