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If the rise and stumble of childcare CEO Eddy Groves has taught us anything, it's that running a successful childcare chain isn't as easy as ABC.
And I, for one, privately felt a sense of justice done when I heard margin calls had robbed Groves and his estranged wife Le Neve of millions and millions of dollars.
That's because I believe there is something morally wrong with a company that is making huge profits out of caring for a bunch of babies.
It must take a certain type of personality to look at a group of kids and wonder how to turn a buck.
And that, I think , is the problem.
It seems to me that Groves just got too greedy.
After he and his team established their lucrative structure in Australia -- supported last year by $400 million in taxpayer subsidies -- they expanded their childcare empire overseas.
But because they relied on borrowings to fund their expansion, they appear to not have enough left to fall back on when the global economy turned down and their loans were called in.
And this to me is the real issue when childcare centres are operated by boards of directors heading private companies -- what happens if they fall over?
Luckily, Groves has managed to find buyers for the overseas arm of ABC Learning, thus stabilising things after a nervous few weeks for parents.
But what happens next time?
Parents remain vulnerable.
What if Groves hits more financial trouble in the next few years and sells the Aussie wing of the company to an overseas buyer?
What happens when some CEO in Singapore decides the Australian arm of the company isn't making enough money and decides to close it down?
When child care is run at a profit, children aren't children, they are numbers on a balance sheet.
And directors at the top making decisions don't have a legal responsibility to the children, they have a responsibility to maximise shareholder profits any way they reasonably and legally can.
The other problem that has been highlighted in the recent financial fiasco is the extent to which Groves has managed to dominate the childcare market.
Now about one in three childcare centres across Australia is operated by ABC Learning.
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It's a situation the Government never should have allowed to develop.
Adequate funding of the community sector, allowing councils and co-ops to provide an alternative in areas where there is a monopoly of private providers, would go some way to redressing the balance.
This still leaves the question of why the last government allowed a company to set up a business model that so heavily relied on taxpayer subsidies, but is still a corporate entity at the whim of the market.
It would be interesting to ask former minister for children and youth affairs Larry Anthony.
Since quitting Parliament, Anthony has taken up a role as a non-executive director of the company.
I know there are many happy ABC parents and children who are cared for by dedicated, loving staff.
But that doesn't change the structure of the system, which is fundamentally flawed.
It's up to the Rudd Government to act to protect "working families" by learning their ABCs.
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- reprinted from Herald Sun