Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I say to the member for Indi that in respect of the second part of her question, if she thinks about it for a second the answer will be obvious to her. The Liberal Party is led by a man who says he knows about business and money. What the word ‘profit’ means is that there is something left over after you have acquitted all costs. You should not assume, as the member for Indi clearly does, that the only thing that goes into the business model of a childcare centre is the question of the number of vacancies. Obviously other costs also pertain to the question of profit, which is why the receiver of ABC, when working through whether a centre is profitable or not, will obviously be looking at all facts that pertain to that—vacancy rates would be one but costs such as the cost of the premises, the cost of the staff and other issues in relation to that centre will obviously pertain. So the member for Indi is taking an overly simplistic view of all of this.

I can understand why she would be taking an overly simplistic view of all of it because the Liberal Party has always taken an overly simplistic, neglectful view of child care—let the market rip, never think about anything else, never do anything else, never develop a policy whether in government or in opposition, and as Leader of the Opposition never say the same thing twice. The Leader of the Opposition has never said the same thing twice since ABC moved into voluntary administration on 6 November.

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