Does Julia Gillard really believe the rubbish coming out of her mouth?

Last night CFK Childcare Centres Limited voluntarily appointed an administrator due to the company's dire financial straits.

Today on ABC radio's The World Today programme The Hon Julia Gillard, Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; Minister for Education; Minister for Social Inclusion was interviewed as the Minister responsible for childcare centres with the education portfolio.

I was listening.

The transcript of the interview is not yet available on the ABC website, but there is another news item here which contains the quote I heard,

...Ms Gillard says parents should not be anxious.

"Can I say to those anxious mums and dads two things, firstly my department is in urgent discussions with the administrator so we can get the full information here for people," she said.

"Secondly, no childcare centre in this country can close without giving 30 days notice."

Let's just review Ms. Gillard's ludicrous statement again:

 

"... no childcare centre in this country can close without giving 30 days notice."

Oh, really Ms. Gillard?

So, a childcare centre run by a public company whose shares ahve been suspended from trading, whose board of directors have appointed an adminsitrator and is in such dire financial straits that it has been losing $400,000 per month won't close it's doors beause it has not given 30 days notice to the governement and parents.

Do you really believe that rubbish which came out of your mouth Ms. Gillard?

Comments

[Mollyfud]

Hmm...Have you checked if this is true? It wouldnt surprise me if it was. There is more then one way to keep a childcare center open. Perhaps the Government picks up the cost of the center for those 30 days (i.e. not the past debt just the cost for those days).

So its not out of the question that this might be the case.
Molly

[Mollyfud]

Have a look at page 52 of this document: http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/6A9D8776-4389-4963-B8A4-12B8418FA5D7/21974/cch.pdf

I think you owe Julia an apology!
;-)

Molly

[Bob Meade]

Molly,

Welcome back.

My point was not that she was incorrectly quoting the regulations or law in respect to period of notice to parents.

My point is that a soon to be defunct company which may well have staff in fear of not being paid deserting in droves and hence unable to maintain the mandated carer to child ratio, or unable to pay the landlord who locks the doors, etcetera, will probably not be giving 30 days notice to parents of closure.

Theres a $33,000 fine for the body corporate? So what? Try to get the fine out of the corporate corpse? No way. Hence no deterrent.

Besides, now that a receiver was appointed overnight by NAB the board of directors cannot be deemed to be in control of such decisions.

So my point is: Does Ms. Gillard really think there will be no closures of any CFK sites within the next 29 days?

If so, then she is sadly and badly out of touch with reality.

[Bob Meade]

Oh, and it is not out of the realm of possibility that the government may extend its de facto policy and prop up CFK to December 31st - but yesterday and today she has been carefully avoiding any such commitment.

My point being that her suggestion that parents rely upon the statutory responsibility to give 30 days notice of closure is ludicrous.

But she is always welcome to visit my place and have a chat about it. So long as she lets me have a turn speaking too. I often hear her speaking in parliament ...

Alternatively she can email me and Ill put her response up here on the blog.