Hiccups in takeover of ABC childcare centres

The Australian

Today, 570 of the failed ABC centres will be transferred to the not-for-profit company GoodStart, a consortium that includes the charities Mission Australia and Brotherhood of St Laurence.

Taxpayers have lent GoodStart $15 million to help it buy the centres, through a seven-year federal government loan.

Childcare Minister Kate Ellis yesterday said the handover would increase the not-for-profit share of the childcare market from just over a quarter of the market to more than a third….

Childcare union the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union yesterday welcomed the sale as “the end of a long and sad saga for childcare”.

LHMU assistant secretary Sue Lines said the new non-profit owners would be more stable than the listed ABC Learning, which collapsed with $1.6 billion in debts in November 2008, affecting more than 100,000 children and 13,000 workers in 1037 centres.

Read online