http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/boom-time-for-corporate-childcare-in-australia-20161109-gslgx2.html
The Sydney Morning Herald on line edition , has reported on the over $1 Billion profit made by the, for profit area of Child Care industry in Australia , last year . The article is well worth read , see link above
" To me this article is solid reminder that the Child Care industry has moved very much to far to the the for profit model, at the expense of public sector child care services, provide by Local Government and the not for profit sector , where profit is not made from child Care Services, but all monies are reinvested in or used for the provision of Child Care Services.
It means that some re balancing in addition provision of Child Care Services, by Local Government is needed.
The article supports concerns by many Unions in the public sector Local Government , both in Australia and elsewhere , that child care funding is missing its mark. With this amount of profit moving out of the sector each year. In a country like Australia with a population of around 23 million .
If you could imagine if this $1 billion dollars (quoted in the article ) could have been used to provide more public sector Child Care places , and or in turn how much cheaper could Child Services be , if they were provide by Local Government .
One way funding Governments can increases Child Care Services places, and or make them cheaper is to use Local Government to provide the services, and remove the profit incentive ... Local Government already has the businesses structures, employment policies, property, the ability and much more to deliver Child Care Services ...and by the way it does supply services in Child Care each and every day.
Thus there is no profit creamed off , but rather every cent is used to provide Child Care Services, and reinvested into Child Care Services provision, If funding Government were smart, they would set up the structure and work with Local Government to provide more Child Care Services ..
Clearly the for profit model, needs review, if over $1 Billion is taken out each year in profit, rather than being used to provide more Child Care Services and Child Care places - something is not working"
Comment by Greg Mclean - PSI AP Local Government and Utility Network Coordinator
