IBISWorld is a 1970s market research company that has evolved into an online business data provider offering “powerful and comprehensive information on every industry, top 2000 companies and the business environment”. It’s probably no surprise then to see that in their latest newsletter they are focusing on the Australian child care industry.
It’s interesting to see a business perspective on this most essential of human services just at a time when the vulnerabilities of the traditional community-based providers are being exposed by private operators and the federal government is becoming aware of the vote value of child care issues.
If you’re interested in how child care is evolving in Australia, the IBISWorld newsletter is definitely worth a look.
From crikey.com.au:
“The ALP insider known to Crikey readers as the Labor Dry writes:
It’s taken them ten years, but they’ve finally pulled it off. The sisters, or more accurately, the inner city sisters, have got their hands on ALP child care policy. These lovers of planning – aka haters of the market – now have the child care policy they always wanted.
$200 million for 260 centres in areas of “high need”. Where are these areas of “high need”? The inner cities of course – coincidentally, where the sisters live. So, the poor mums and dads of everywhere else have to subside the child care of the inner city. Now that’s good fair Labor redistribution. Never mind the inner cities have the good public transport, the good schools, the good parks (eg Callan and Centennial in Sydney), even the ABC, now under Labor they will have much more – subsidised child care.
At what cost? $200 million for 260 centres or the equivalent of $770,000 per centre. Assuming a centre of 100 places, that’s a whopping $7,700 per place. Now, that’s good economic credibility, isn’t it? (Which begs the question: what are you doing about these type of costings, Shadow Finance Minister?) Meanwhile, there is $60 million in extra child care benefits which, according to Labor, will deliver 25,000 places – about a third of the cost.
Little wonder the sisters see this as a beautiful set of numbers. They get $7,700 a place, the rest of the community about $2,500. Fairness personified. All we need now is for Anne Summers to host a true believers ball to launch the formal policy.
Thankfully, the policy has its own checks and balances. The inner city has them built in. This will be when the child care sisters run up against their good neighbours, the green space campaigners, and low and behold, it’ll be a fight of “rights”. Beautiful irony. Can’t wait for the first application for a centre for the kids of basket weavers from Balmain at Callan Park.
We got told that there is nothing good in what the Government is doing. We got told the sky is falling – but that was about it. Chicken Little stuff – but Chicken Little is clearly short of some ideas. Along with the roosters.”