Gillard leaves families in lurch on childcare
19-December-2008
Minister Gillard’s failure to manage the ABC Learning crisis has resulted in hundreds of families being left in the lurch just six day before Christmas, Shadow Minister for Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“We now have 14 Centres that have not appeared on any ABC Learning list the Receivers have issued and parents have been told this morning that their Centre will close on December 31 – this is an absolute disgrace and will leave many families in a panic,” Mrs Mirabella said.
“These parents have every right to feel angry. The Company that owns these Centres, Neighbourhood Learning Group, has the exact same provider number as ABC Learning on the Family Assistance Office Database and it’s now been revealed that they had a contractual arrangement with them.”
“Julia Gillard clearly has failed to manage the issue properly – she’s had a Taskforce in place since September, but something like this just comes out of the blue and parents are left in the lurch less than a week before Christmas!”
Mrs Mirabella called on Minister Gillard to immediately ensure that these 14 Neighbourhood Group Centre do not close on Dec 31, and to provide assistance to the families who find themselves without care less than a week before Christmas.
“Clearly the collapse of this Group is related to ABC Learning and these parents deserve the same assurance of guaranteed care until at least March.”
“The Minister must also investigate how these Centres apparently fell through the cracks despite having the same provider number on the Government’s Family Assistance Office Database.”
“This debacle shows that the Rudd Government is not doing its job. It’s own database should have been a red-flag and the Government should have been looking into this other company. Instead we have Child Care Centres closing out of the blue. It’s a disgrace.”
“Minister Gillard has obviously not been giving the crisis in the childcare industry the attention it deserves - maybe she should give the job to someone else.”