ISSUES: ABC Learning Centres
LISA WILKINSON: But first to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, as the Federal Government just poured another $34 million into ABC Learning.
Good morning to you, Julia. Thanks for your time this morning. We’ve lost 55 centres, how many more will go? And we really want you to level with parents this morning because they want the answers.
JULIA GILLARD: Good morning, Lisa. What we’ve tried to do each and every day since ABC Learning went into receivership is level with parents. Everything we know, we’re telling people. We’re not holding any information back. The receiver had to go through a process where he worked out, centre by centre, what was going on. And we’ve come to the end of that process yesterday. It’s now clear 720 centres will continue and parents know which centres those are. It’s clear 55 will close, but they are in locations where people can get a place, either at another ABC Learning Centre or at a nearby child care centre. Then we’ve got 241 that the Government is going to continue to subsidise and keep open until the 31st of March whilst we work through a process, centre by centre, with the expressions of interest we already have to see if we can find a long-term future for those centres.
And we’ve got to remember the receiver has described these centres as unviable under the ABC Learning business model. That doesn’t mean that a community organisation or local government wouldn’t step up and say ‘we will run these centres and run them for the long term’ and that’s what we’re working through now.
LISA WILKINSON: Can you guarantee that all of these children will get places at the other centres, because we keep hearing that there are long waiting lists. Can they all cater for all of these extra children?
JULIA GILLARD: The 55 that have been closed—they are in areas where there are nearby ABC Learning Centres or other centres with places available. Obviously the receiver, in assessing what was to be an ongoing part of the business, has looked at whether or not these centres are in areas where there’s more supply than there is demand; whether there are places available in other centres. So the receiver is writing to people to let them know where places are available. We also have our Government website, mychild.gov.au, where people can get on and search for information for child care centres in their local area.
LISA WILKINSON: In total, you’ve now bailed out these companies to the tune of $56 million. How much more are you prepared to put out there?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, I want to make it clear not one cent of Government money has gone to the owners or operators of ABC Learning. Our money has gone—taxpayers money—has gone to supporting continuity of care. When this business first went into receivership, it looked like it was going to be a pretty big mess and the accounts are shambolic. It’s taken the receiver a time to work through, centre by centre. And in the middle of that very big mess, we wanted to make sure that there was the maximum continuity for parents—the maximum amount of information. That’s why we stepped in, in the first instance to keep all the centres going until the 31st of December and why we’re stepping in again to keep these 241 open until the 31st of March. But all the Government money is about continuity of care for kids and parents knowing that there is a place for their child. That money is not going to the operators of ABC Learning.
LISA WILKINSON: Everyone agrees that this is a huge mess. When did you first become aware of the potential crisis with the ABC Learning Centres?
JULIA GILLARD: ABC Learning notified the stock exchange some time back that it was not able to put its accounts on the stock exchange. So it was saying to the stock exchange it was going to continue trade but it couldn’t put its accounts up in the normal course, so it asked us …
LISA WILKINSON: So why didn’t you jump in then, Julia?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, what ABC Learning was saying at that stage is it didn’t want the stock market trading in its shares, but it was saying to us that it was going to sort itself out and keep trading as a business. Obviously that didn’t happen and it went into receivership. It was only when ABC Learning moved into receivership that anyone could go through the process of examining, centre by centre, what the accounts were. The receiver needed to do that, having been appointed. Now as soon as the receiver was appointed, we obviously acted to strike an arrangement to keep these centres open until the 31st of December while the receiver did his work and now we’ve acted again to keep the 241 centres open.
LISA WILKINSON: Okay, Julia Gillard we’ll have to leave it there but we do thank you for your time this morning.
JULIA GILLARD: Thanks Lisa.
ENDS