Local families caught up in ABC failure

Alex de Vos
Hundreds of Geelong families faced the loss of child care services after ABC Learning went into voluntary administration administration yesterday morning.
But an afternoon pledge from receiver McGrathNicol to continue operating the company’s 1200 centres around Australia and New Zealand saved Geelong families from finding themselves stranded without child care.
ABC has 11 centres in the region at Geelong, Drysdale, Lara, Leopold, Newcomb, East Geelong and Torquay and two each in Newtown and Grovedale.
The company employs 12,000 staff in Australia and New Zealand, with dozens of jobs at the Geelong centres.
The company announced yesterday that large levels of debt had forced ABC into receivership.
Staff at Geelong region ABC centres refused to comment to the Independent. A spokesman from the company’s state office, in Melbourne, had not returned the Independent’s call for comment before the paper went to press yesterday afternoon.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard welcomed the administrator’s pledge to keep the centres open under the administration of company Ferrier Hodgson.
Ms Gillard said Federal Government had been in discussions with creditors, particularly banks, about keeping the centres open.
“The Government’s priority is to ensure working families reliant on ABC Learning can continue to access child care for their children and for ABC Learning employees to have some immediate stability,” she said.
“This is a unique situation because ABC Learning is the largest private child care provider in the country,” she said.
Ms Gillard said parents and staff who wanted more information about the future of ABC should visit www.mychild.gov.au. The Government had also set up a dedicated information hotline on 180 2003, she said.