The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard has welcomed the receivers of ABC Learning Centres, McGrathNicol, commitment to keeping the child care centres open and that they would continue to operate as usual.
The Australian Government has been in discussions with creditors, particularly the banking syndicate of international and Australian banks who have appointed the receiver, to support continuity of service delivery to provide some comfort to parents and employees.
The Government’s priority is to ensure working families reliant on ABC Learning can continue to access child care for their children and ABC Learning employees have some immediate stability.
This is a unique situation because ABC Learning is the largest private child care provider in the country with approximately 120,000 children attending more than 1000 child care centres that employ more than 16,000 people.
The Child Care Industry Taskforce, in the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, is working closely with the administrator, Ferrier Hodgson, and the receiver, McGrathNicol.
The Government continues to support working families to access child care by providing subsidies through the Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Tax Rebate. It is anticipated ABC Learning Centres will receive more than $300 million in Child Care Benefit, a fee reducing payment on behalf of parents, from the Australian Government this financial year.
Information for parents and employees about this morning’s announcement is available on the mychild.gov.au web site. Parents and employees will also be able to register to receive further information via email as it becomes available.
The Australian Government has set up a dedicated information hotline on 180 2003 to provide basic information to parents and employees about the announcement. The call centre will operate from 3pm today.
Specific questions concerning the management and operation of ABC centres should be directed to the receiver’s hotline on 1800 222 543.