TERRI BEGLEY: As we mentioned earlier in the program, the Federal Education Department is preparing contingency plans in case ABC Learning collapses, leaving thousands of children without child care. In a Senate Estimates hearing, department official Michael Manthorpe said, ‘different scenarios are being canvassed.’
To find out a little bit more about this, we have on the line Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard. Good morning.
JULIA GILLARD: Good morning, Terri.
TERRI BEGLEY: Thanks for taking time out to talk to us on this issue. We have a lot of worried parents, or increasingly nervous parents, about this issue. How serious do you think the risk is of collapse of ABC Learning?
JULIA GILLARD: I think it’s very important that people note that ABC Learning Centres are continuing to operate as normal. So, ABC Centres around the country are still doing what they’ve been doing for a long time now—caring for kids for parents who need that care. The ABC company has been in the process of putting together financial information, a full statement about its circumstances. That information will ultimately be made public to the market and more generally. And we’ve been saying to ABC that we think those detailed processes do need to be worked through, but it would be good to get that information out as quickly as possible so everyone can get clarity.
TERRI BEGLEY: Even if in worst case scenario ABC Learning does go under, won’t the centres continue to operate at least in the short term, perhaps under an administrator?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, it’s not really appropriate for me to comment on the circumstances for a particular company or its financial situation, or its organisational structure. ABC is continuing to provide care as it has, so it’s operating normally now. The departmental official who was in Senate Estimates yesterday was indicating, of course, that the government monitors these sorts of situations very closely. We are working through contingencies but I’m hoping those contingencies will never be needed.
TERRI BEGLEY: Can you give us an idea of what some of those contingencies are? How would children be accommodated?
JULIA GILLARD: Well we are working through contingencies, and as I say, they are contingent plans. ABC is operating as normal. At some point it will make a statement to the market. Then the consequences of that statement to the market, we the government, and members of the public, will be able to assess. That’s one of the reasons we’re asking them to get the full information available as soon as they can. But I’m really keen, Terri, not to raise unnecessary fears. There is nothing to be alarmed about. ABC Learning Centres are operating normally.
TERRI BEGLEY: What about a guarantee on child care placements? If people did have to find more child care for their children and perhaps another centre, is there any likelihood of government backing, that those placements would be guaranteed?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, government backs the child care industry very strongly right around the nation. We back it with millions, indeed, billions of dollars of government expenditure through the Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Tax Rebate. We increased the Tax Rebate in the recent May Budget so people get compensation for 50 per cent of their out-of-pocket cost, so that is there to support the child care industry. We’re also supporting an expansion of the industry with our plans for 260 new centres around the country.
TERRI BEGLEY: Sure, but no sort of direct guarantees? You know how the government has come up with these bank deposit guarantees, so I guess some parents would be wondering if they can get some sort of guarantee on something even more important to them than their money in the bank—their children?
JULIA GILLARD: I think the stability of our financial institutions is actually pivotal to everybody, and that’s why the government gave the bank guarantee that it did. What I can about the child care situation generally is the government is monitoring it closely, as indicated by the departmental official yesterday. We are working on contingency plans but I do not want to raise any alarm about this matter. ABC is continuing to operate normally.
TERRI BEGLEY: Minister, you launched yesterday a website that the Opposition has labelled ‘Child Care Watch’. It’s a resource for parents to find a centre near them and compare features and prices. I know the website does more than that, but given the current situation faced by ABC Learning, do you think it would help parents if the website also showed which centres had vacancies and perhaps how many?
JULIA GILLARD: Well can I just say about the website—it is mychild.gov.au, so people might want to go and have a look at it. It is much more than information about child care centres; it’s information to help parents generally. And when we launched it yesterday, we were accompanied by Professor Fiona Stanley, who has made the care of children her life’s work in this nation and she said it’s a good resource for parents. Indeed, she was going to recommend it to her own daughter who’s about to have her grandchild.
TERRI BEGLEY: Sure. But wouldn’t it be more helpful for even just to show people, say they live in a suburb of Brisbane, whether there are any other vacancies at that day; you know, something that could be updated?
JULIA GILLARD: This website, apart from all of that parenting information, and I would recommend to people that they have a look because one of the things people raised with us is, you know, not sure where to get really good quality information from and if you’re just trawling the net generally sometimes you can come up with things that aren’t good quality information.
TERRI BEGLEY: Sure.
JULIA GILLARD: But specifically on the child care centres, this is a round of information that will be kept updated about fees and the location of centres.
TERRI BEGLEY: But no vacancy numbers for parents to research?
JULIA GILLARD: It’s a foundation stone and we are going to be building on the information available on this website. Building on it so that it is showing things like quality standards and we will be working to try and make sure that it becomes a bigger and better resource for parents. But already, it’s giving them something that they’ve never had before.
TERRI BEGLEY: Sure.
JULIA GILLARD: And that’s the ability to go in, search the child care centres in their location and compare price, understanding what is included in the price.
TERRI BEGLEY: It’s … I mean obviously that would be helpful to compare price and features, but it’s not helpful if you want to go to that centre and there are no vacancies. Wouldn’t it be helpful to parents to know whether the centre that is looking attractive to them actually has places, so they don’t waste their time?
JULIA GILLARD: Sure, Terri. I can understand the importance of that information and what I’m saying is that this is a work in progress.
TERRI BEGLEY: So there might be a possibility of this happening?
JULIA GILLARD: We do want to make it a more comprehensive site over time. We do want to work with the child care industry to give the maximum amount of information on the website. So that is our aspiration. But what I would say already it’s giving people something that they’ve never had before. Because if they just rang the centres in their local area and said, ‘What’s the fee?’, the problem they would’ve had—some centres quoting on the basis that food’s included, some quoting on the basis it’s not included, and you have to bring your food.
TERRI BEGLEY: Yeah, sure.
JULIA GILLARD: Some quoting on the basis nappies are included. This actually gives them genuinely comparable information.
TERRI BEGLEY: Okay. We’ll look forward with interest to see if there is additional information put on that site as time goes on.
JULIA GILLARD: Thank you.
TERRI BEGLEY: Julia Gillard, thank you for your time.
JULIA GILLARD: Bye bye.