Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I know that those opposite might not want to hear about how we cleaned up the mess that they helped create, but if they wanted to ask a question on child care we would be delighted to compare our record with theirs and delighted to point out how we have been delivering on affordability and quality.

At the moment, we are talking about the collapse of ABC Learning after the market was left to rip under the previous government and what we on this side of the House have done to avert the most negative consequences of that. It has been quick action by this government and particularly by the Deputy Prime Minister and the member for Bennelong, who ensured that the worst potential consequences of this were averted. In fact, we now have a remarkable position, with some 90 per cent of these ABC Learning centres continuing to operate today after the threat of a sudden and immediate collapse. That is something that we should all be very grateful for.

This week, 570 of these childcare centres have been transferred from ABC Learning to GoodStart, assisted by a $15 million loan from our government. This heralds a new way forward for the Australian childcare market, a way forward that is based on high-quality, affordable and stable care. One thing that is very important for the stability of the market going forward is the mix of private and not-for-profit providers. The transfer yesterday to GoodStart increases the share that not-for-profit providers have from 22 per cent to some 34 per cent of the market. This announcement is very good news for parents, who can now go to work assured that their childcare centre has a new owner that is in it for the long haul. It is very good news for children, who know that the centre that they are attending has a key focus on quality and on making sure that they get the absolute best in early care. Importantly, it is also very good news for staff, because GoodStart has announced that the accrued entitlements of these workers will all be acknowledged, including their long service leave.

While this is all a very positive and exciting step forward, we on this side of the House know that it is much better to prevent these collapses from ever taking place than it is to come along and pick up the pieces afterwards. That is why our government has put in place new measures to prevent a collapse like that of ABC Learning from ever taking place in our childcare market again. In this year’s budget, we announced that all large childcare providers will have much more thorough financial viability checks before they are approved for government subsidies and will face ongoing checks going forward.

Before being approved, all of these new childcare centre operators must demonstrate that they are suitable to operate a childcare centre. That includes providing information about their financial background and about whether they or any person involved in the managing of their organisation have been associated with an insolvency in the sector before. The government will also have new powers to commission an independent investigation or audit of any particular provider if we believe that there are any concerns about their viability. We are determined to not allow another ABC style crisis to occur on our watch. We have worked very hard to restore stability to the Australian childcare market. The entry of GoodStart into it is very good news for Australian families and Australian children. Our government is very much looking forward to working with GoodStart to continue to deliver affordable and quality child care in this nation.

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