Charities take over ABC child centres
Hundreds of childcare centres formerly operated by the collapsed ABC Learning group will be turned over to non-profit consortium today.
GoodStart, a consortium that includes charities Mission Australia and Brotherhood of St. Laurence, will commence operating 570 of the failed ABC centres.
The federal government have lent GoodStart $15 million to help it buy the centres, through a seven-year government loan.
However, 100 ABC Learning centres have yet to be handed over, with landlords refusing to hand over to charity.
Michael Traill, chief executive of GoodStart member Social Ventures Australia expressed confidence that all the centres would be transferred over the ensuing months.
Traill said that major landlords Austock and Orchard had transferred all their 359 centres, and the outstanding ones were owned by smaller landlords.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the transfer secured the future of childcare provisions for thousands of Australian families. She said that for most Australian families who use the new GoodStart centres, there would be little or no change in their childcare arrangements.
"The transfer of these [ABC] centres closes the door on a chapter of instability in the market which was created by the unprecedented collapse of ABC Learning in 2008," said Gillard.
Gillard said that for most Australian families who use the new GoodStart centres, there would be little or no change in their childcare arrangements.
The transition is not expected to cause any disruption to families, or to more than 13,000 ABC Learning staff, who have kept their jobs despite the collapse of their employer.