<P> The State Bank collapsed due to the weight of the bad loans made in the 1980s, in particular by its merchant bank subsidiary Tricontinental, after deregulation of banking in Australia in the mid-1980s by the Hawke ALP government . Tricontinental eventually collapsed with losses of A $1.5 billion, which threatened the existence of the State Bank and led to its sale to the Commonwealth Bank . The overall sale price was A $2.0 billion . </P> <P> The collapse of the State Bank was a key factor in the defeat of the State Labor government led by Joan Kirner and the election of the Liberal Party led by Jeff Kennett, at the 1992 Victorian state election . </P>

The commissioners of the state savings bank of victoria