Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to highlight the concerns of parents, children and staff involved in the ABC Learning Centres in Gippsland. As the Deputy Prime Minister announced in this place yesterday, the receiver of ABC Learning Ltd has identified that 656 centres will continue to trade as normal in 2009. That is obviously good news, but I fear for the future of those centres listed on the ABC website as being ‘subject to further operational review’. In the electorate of Gippsland, there are three centres at Sale, one in Lakes Entrance, one in Maffra and one in Morwell which are listed in this category on the website. I am reassured by the words of the minister and the receiver that this does not necessarily mean these centres will not be operating in 2009, but we can expect a further announcement within a week.

This is an incredibly complex and difficult issue for all concerned. Of course we are all concerned about the quality of care and level of service provided, particularly in our regional communities. We need to provide these services in an affordable and accessible manner to allow parents to have the flexibility to be involved in the paid workforce. My thoughts are also with the many loyal staff, who are concerned about how they are going to pay their own bills if the worst happens and centres close in Gippsland next year. I congratulate the minister for being very upfront and keeping the parliament informed on this issue with regular statements.

I have already written to the minister and sought some assurances on behalf of the staff in Gippsland in relation to their entitlements. Now I seek the minister’s support for towns in my electorate that may lose their only childcare centres in 2009 without any opportunity for replacement services to be developed in the meantime. I do not believe it is the government’s job to continually bail out a failed business, but there is an obligation to provide an essential service where a market based model has failed. It has been a very easy target for the current government to attack the previous administration for allowing ABC Learning to become too big; but I think it is always easy to be wise after the event.

Gippslanders are not interested in petty political point-scoring or the blame game when it comes to the provision of childcare services, particularly in our regional areas, where the options are often very limited. The government says it has a taskforce in place which is working with the receiver and it does sounds promising, but Gippsland families want a guarantee that there will be somewhere for their children to be safely cared for in 2009.

I urge the minister to remember the small country centres that are caught up in this issue. If there are no alternative service providers, the government must act to guarantee services in the future. I am urging the minister to continue to work with the service providers, both the commercial service providers and the not-for-profit sector, in Gippsland and to work with the local communities to ensure that we are in a position to develop local solutions to this problem. The bottom line is that we must have these services available to regional families in 2009, and I am committed to working with the government to ensure that happens.