The Hon Julia Gillard MP
Minister for Education. Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Minister for Social Inclusion
Deputy Prime Minister
15 May, 2009
Media release
ABC2 Group child care centres update
The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard today welcomed the confirmation provided by the Court Appointed Receivers (CAR) for the ABC2 Group, Stephen Parbery and Daniel Bryant of PPB that the transfer of ABC2 centres to new operators is continuing.
The smooth transition of centres to new operators is now occurring on a daily basis without disrupting the existing care arrangements of families.
It is expected that more than 210 centres will continue with new operators.
The Government will continue to support these centres while the sales process is completed to ensure continuity of care for children and provide some certainty for parents and employees.
PPB now expects that only around 16 centres will close, down from the expectation on 15 April 2009 that 19 centres would need to close.
For those centres that will close, sufficient alternative long day care places have been found in nearby centres to ensure all of the affected families have had the option of care in their local area.
PPB has continued to explore sustainable options for the eight centres that did not receive acceptable bids as part of the Expression of Interest process and where no alternative child care places had been identified.
Buyers have been found for two of these centres and they will now continue to operate under new ownership. A third centre from this group, ABC Boulder in WA recently closed as sufficient alternative places became available in the local area.
The Government is pleased that more than 85 per cent of employees working in ABC2 centres will be retained by the new operators or redeployed to other ABC centres.
PPB is continuing to keep in close contact with parents and staff in centres to update them on progress and is confident that all transfers will be successfully concluded over the next few weeks.