Waiting lists for community centres are such that children registered at conception only receive places as toddlers, or later.
A full-fledged nationalisation would go some way to closing the door on the for-profit model of childcare in Australia. How would smaller private providers compete with a burgeoning community sector and an entirely public, national childcare provider?
A co-operative, worker owned-and-run model would allow space for the private sector to coexist with community care, give workers and parents more direct ownership of centres, and effectively outsource the provision of this essential service, freeing up valuable government resources.
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A community-co-operative model could also allow greater autonomy for individual centres. Given the vastly different needs of communities in urban, rural and remote areas, this is particularly attractive.
ABC's demise is as much an indicator of economic structural rot as was the Argentinean meltdown of 2001. Bailouts, and to a lesser extent nationalisations, are band-aid solutions to what will be a persistent problem. The time for creativity and resourcefulness is now.
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