The collective began in 2009 with the Switch off Hazelwood, Switch on Renewables campaign. This campaign protested against continued government support for the Hazelwood Power Station in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland (regarded as the most polluting power station in the developed world). This grassroots campaign, supported by Greenpeace, Environment Victoria, the Greens and the Australian Conservation Foundation, organised community rallies in 2009 and 2010 and forced the Brumby government to commit to Hazelwood’s closure (although the issue is still a hot topic, with the Federal government not committing to a deadline for Hazelwood’s closure).
Quit Coal’s first major campaign was Stop HRL, a community campaign against plans for private company HRL, to build a 600MW coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley. This plant would have been the first coal-fired power station to be built in Victoria for twenty years. But people power won out: joining forces with other community and environmental groups, We Stopped HRL! In November 2011 Quit Coal decided to officially become a part of Friends of the Earth Melbourne (FoE) and now operates as a FoE collective.