Charities contest with financier Michael Milken for ABC Learning group

Natasha Bita | October 28, 2009
Article from: The Australian

A CONSORTIUM of charities is vying with former American junk bond king Michael Milken to buy Australia's biggest childcare chain, the failed ABC Learning group.

Mission Australia has teamed up with the Brotherhood of St Laurence, the Benevolent Society and Social Ventures Australia to prepare a bid to take over the remains of Eddy Groves's childcare empire.

"We're part of a larger group of not-for-profits who are looking into the possibility of buying it," a Mission Australia spokesman told The Australian yesterday.

"It's certainly an interesting proposition."

But it is competing with rival bidder Knowledge Universe, a Singapore-based company which was co-founded by billionaire businessman and philanthropist Milken who purchased the ABC-owned Busy Bees chain in Britain earlier this year.
If ABC Learning's 715 childcare centres are sold to non-profit operators, the handover will transform the nation's commercially dominated childcare sector.

But a sale to Knowledge Universe would result in a new dominant childcare corporation driven by shareholder profits.

ABC Learning, which collapsed beneath $1.6 billion of debts nearly a year ago, still controls 15per cent of the market.

Mission Australia already owns 29 former ABC centres, which it bought for as little as $1 each in a firesale of unviable centres by ABC Learning's receiver in April.

It is using the centres to expand its Pathways program to help prepare disadvantaged children for school. A spokesman for the consortium, Matthew Jones, refused to put a price on the bid, or explain how the charities intended to pay for the centres.

Knowledge Universe refused to comment yesterday. Its childcare brands include KinderCare, Odyssey, Knowledge Beginnings, Pat's Schoolhouse and Cambridge Learning Centre, marketed as "the private school for little people".

Milken was charged with 98 counts of racketeering and insider trading in 1989 and was sentenced to two years' jail after he pleaded guilty to six minor charges. A spokesman for ABC Learning's receiver, McGrathNicoll, yesterday said the centres were on track to be sold by Christmas but refused to reveal the potential buyers. "We have a shortlist and we're still confident of exchange (of contracts) prior to Christmas and completion early next year," he said.

Several private equity companies also are looking at lodging bids for the ABC centres.

But a frontrunner to buy the group, Peppercorn Childcare founder Michael Gordon, has pulled out of the contest after carrying out preliminary due diligence. Mr Gordon said he feared that new childcare quality standards to be considered by the Council of Australian Governments in December would eat into profits. "I was interested but I'm not going to be part of it," he told The Australian yesterday.

"Maintaining a good margin in that sector is not easy. Labour is obviously a large part of the costs and anything to do with changes to the employee rates and conditions and licensing changes that impact on the roster is going to be difficult for the industry to absorb."

ABC Learning has already protested against the COAG proposal to force childcare centres to hire extra staff, claiming it would have to charge parents $20 more per day for childcare.
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Whether you’re starting a new position or in a well established one. There comes a time in every Child Care professional’s career when they must play the dreaded guilt game. For those unfamiliar with the industry, guilt is a widely used form of coercion to ensure staff work outside of their work hours without payment and the industry’s dirty little secret for too long. So why...In an industry that already sees its professionals give so much… does it continue to ask for more.

Well it’s simple. Child care centre’s albeit community or private all require a lot of work to run effectively and even more to run at a profit. For private centres saving money is nothing short of expected and the more they can save the more profit they can make. For community centres this is no different, if they can save more money than that is more funds that can go back to their centre. In the end the cost of running a centre must come from somewhere and sadly for too long, this cost has fallen on the shoulders of its professionals. For the estimated 90,000 child care professionals within Australia this cost comes in the form of guilt. Guilt that sees child carers work up to 5 hrs a week or more in overtime without payment, that’s up to 2 weeks unpaid work a year.

Now before there’s any confusion lets clear up exactly what we mean by guilt. You see guilt is never the word they actually use, commitment, dedication or my personal favourite “for love of the job” are the more preferred names for you name it; free work. Unfortunately the term unpaid work as you would expect doesn’t go down as well as most directors or owners would like. So they in turn replace “unpaid” with you guessed it “commitment” and what kind of worker would one be if they weren’t committed to their job. Right! Wrong. This ever growing habit of renaming unpaid work as commitment has not only cost Australia’s child care industry its reputation but hundreds of its best workers along the way.

While those behind desks continue to develop the latest frameworks in education and others claim to be pioneering the way for greater quality care. The industry itself is slowly weeding out the dedicated, compassionate and inspiring professionals it needs; to exhaustion, financial ruin and mental illness like depression.

For others, the childcare industry often comes across as a passive and somewhat gullible sector. Yet little do they know that it’s actually the kindness and compassion of these people that allows them to be perceived as such. If like others they simply walked out one must question if the industry would otherwise be seen as cruel and selfish as opposed to weak. For when all else tells them otherwise these are the people that go against their better judgments due to guilt and ensure that children receive what they need. The same guilt that sees these professionals give up their time for children’s xmas parties, special events, graduations and working bees to better the quality of the children’s centre. Despite the fact that these workers know they should be paid they are all too often fall victim to this guilt and find it almost impossible to refuse. It is this aspect that is all too well known within the industry and all too often abused.

While many have no phobia when it comes to commitment, the fact that hundreds still doing this job after 2 years let alone a decade should be more than enough to prove their dedication, and yet time and time again their expected to prove their dedication to the job by working unpaid hours and should they refuse their commitment is questioned.

I ask you this. “How many people do you know that spend their Saturdays gardening, painting or spring cleaning their offices for free? How many people do you know that weigh up family occasion for Easter hats parades or graduation nights? And more importantly, how many people do you know that spend a percentage of their weekly wage on work supplies? It is this social stigma has seen the industry buried in ignorance where other industries have thrived. At the end of the day police officers aren’t expected to buy their own guns, doctors aren’t required to provide their own medicine and yet oddly child care workers are not privileged to this same expectation.

Over the years the term commitment has become the norm weighed down with a burgeoning sense of guilt that has seen an industry as a whole fail to meet its potential.
Perhaps the most disappointing of all is that while we as professionals have struggled to gain the respect and recognition we deserve. It is our own industry that has failed us. Why is it not acceptable for us all as professionals to simply do our job well and be paid for it like everyone else? Why is working a whole Saturday considered commitment in our industry and yet overtime in everyone else’s.

So next time you visit your child’s centre or attend a centre event; take note of the workers, take note of the time and how long they stay behind to chat about your child’s wonderful achievements or simply to make you feel a part of your child’s day. Then when you’re finished take a moment to say thanks. Thank them for giving up their time, their family, their moment to themselves, to be there for you and your child. To an industry of owners and directors your position does not escape you nor excuse you. You are graced with the presence of kind, generous and compassionate people that in no way should ever have to justify their commitment through unpaid work. Instead take a moment to justify your own expectations and why your need for unpaid work somehow excuses it.

At the end of the day, should you feel guilty by your lack of gratitude or unfounded answers? Take head in the response you give your workers. If you’re not committed then find another place to work?

With her illustrations gracing award winning books such as "Amy & Louis", "Two Summers" and "No Room for a Mouse". Freya Blackwood's presence is been felt everywhere as her illustrations become a part of our childhoods forever. Living Childcare chatted to Freya about her new book "Ivy Loves to Give", what inspires her and what we can expect next from Freya Blackwood....

LC.You’ve had an amazing career so far, that has seen you work in areas of film like set design and production. Is it hard to stop and concentrate on illustrating?
F:I worked as an effects technician and prosthetic makeup technician when working in the film industry. It was something I enjoyed exploring when I was younger, before I’d discovered exactly what it was I wanted to do. I find illustrating very satisfying, so no, its not hard at all to stop and just illustrate!

LC. You’ve recently published your own children’s book titled “ Ivy Loves to Give” can you tell us a little about it and its inspiration?
F. IVY LOVES TO GIVE is about a little girl who loves to give things, but muddles her presents so that her family find odd things have gone missing. The book is based on my daughter Ivy, who used to offer her milk cup to anything. I did a series of drawings for Ivy’s grandmother and father, of Ivy offering her milk cup to a chicken and a pair of sunglasses to our very grumpy Himalayan cat called Daisy. The idea just developed from there.

LC. As an illustrator what was it like both writing and illustrating your own book?
F. I do like illustrating other people’s stories as there’s a greater challenge when you have to interpret someone else’s story. But I’m also looking forward to learning more about creating my own picture books. We’ll see...

LC. You’ve received numerous honors for your illustrations. Was this something you expected so early on in your career?
F. No, not at all! Especially my first book TWO SUMMERS – that was an enormous surprise. I then worried that I’d never do anything worth honoring again. I love AMY & LOUIS and at the time thought it was absolutely perfect. So I was very happy and proud of it when it won the CBCA award.

LC. Did you ever think it would be your love of illustrating that would create your path in life?
F.Several times throughout school and university I wanted to become an illustrator, but I don’t think I expected my work to go as far as it has. Some books have been translated into other languages, and the distance they are travelling is just mind-boggling.

LC. You’ve mentioned that illustrating is something that just kept coming back to you. Do you think this why your illustrations seem to be so captivating and special?
F. I personally find it hard to see exactly what it is that is captivating or special about my work, simply because its very close to me. I think most people who work in such a sheltered environment and so closely on a job probably lose sight of how others might see it. I can only guess that when you spend a great deal of time and effort developing characters and the world they live in and then labouring over every drawing you do of a character to make sure it feels right and shows the emotions you want the character to show, that all of that effort and thought comes across to the reader. Essentially, I guess I just do what I do and it’s luckily found an audience that really respects it.

LC. There’s a real beauty in your illustration’s simplicity yet it’s like you almost reach out and touch your characters on the nose. Did you always set out to draw that way?
As with the previous answer, I just work as I do. It’s not something I’ve specially planned. I often labour over drawings of characters to get them feeling just right and showing the emotions I want them to show. I do become attached to characters and find the moment when they get colour very exciting as they can nearly feel alive to me.

LC. What do you love to illustrate when you’re not working?
F. I don’t draw other than for work – that might seem a bit strange. I don’t really enjoy just sitting and sketching, though I do wish that I did, and might try to do more of this as I have more time. My drawing would improve and develop greatly.

LC. Growing up in Orange and spending time in New Zealand, where do you derive your inspiration from?
F. Most of my books have had more of an Australian feel, even though I was working in New Zealand. Having moved back to Australia, I’ve been very inspired by some of the old towns around Orange where I now live. I’m setting a current book in a town made up of elements of some of these small settlements.

LC. Is there any topic you’d love to illustrate but haven’t yet had the chance?
F. I’d love to try illustrating some traditional stories, like some of the Grimm's Brother’s tales, or Hans Christian Anderson stories.

LC. As a child what were some of your favourite childrens books?
F. Dorie the Witch, Where the Wild Things Are. Burglar Bill and Cops and Robbers, Marty Moves to the Country, Alice in Wonderland.

LC. What advice would you offer to others wanting to illustrate children’s books?
F. Drawing seems to be less of a necessity now in childrens illustration, but I think if you can teach yourself to draw well, or learn to draw well you will have a definite advantage. Getting work when you start is often as much good luck as it is skill or talent. Its a hard industry to break into, so it makes sense if your work is unique or distinctive and if you are willing to practice drawing and illustrating on small jobs, or your own stories. The more practice you can do the better.

LC. What’s next for Freya Blackwood?
F. I’m just happy plodding at the moment. I work three days a week and spend the rest of the week with my daughter. It’s a nice balance like this. I’ve got some books lined up written by various authors – I’m very excited about all of them.

LC. You’ve mentioned you have a 3 year old daughter named Ivy. Working with children our readers know what its like to get requests for drawings, do you get it twice as much? And does it ever get boring?
F. Ivy actually isn’t remotely interested in drawing or in my drawings, or in me doing drawings for her. So, I might have to get back to you in that one when she becomes interested.

LC. There is a lot of creativity within your family. Do you feel it’s essential that children have the opportunity and access to draw?
F. We did a lot of drawing when we were young. It wasn’t something that was forced on us, but something that was encouraged. My mother let us try many different artistic mediums while we were children and teenagers. I think children should be encouraged to investigate and explore not just drawing but as many varied pursuits as possible. And then they should be encouraged to continue and develop the things they enjoy.

LC. So many children spend high levels of their time on computers, how do you think we can bring children back to good old pencils and paper?
F. Being a child is all about having fun and learning by having fun. I guess parents need to integrate drawing and writing into every day life and in a way that makes it enjoyable. And perhaps rather than allowing a lot of time in front of television or playing on a computer, parents could actively encourage craft activities or story writing. Children learn from their parents – if they see their parents writing and drawing (as opposed to sitting on a computer or watching television) they’re sure to want to join in!

You can check out Freya's work at her website www.freyablackwood.net

Well its hard to believe it's nearly October, and just three short months till Xmas. Once again we will begin our favorite job of Xmas gifts for parents and hear the joyous bells of....Overtime. lol
Now before we get to carried away i wanted to apologise for Living Childcare's forum being offline. Its seems the Australia's government isn't the only ones that fail to respect our profession, so too its seems are hackers. The forum however is back online and a little revamped...cos we all love a little revamp and i look forward to chatting to you all soon. Sadly all our members will have to re-register, luckily though its justa few short steps and you'll be back on track in no time.

Now thats out of the way.
There are a few great new articles coming to Living Childcare in the coming months to keep your eyes out for. We have an interview with Freya Blackwood, illustrator of amazing children's books such as the infamous Amy & LOUIS....Brendan Walton returns with a chat about his career and we look at topics such as The Guilt game we all seem to play, The new Early Years Learning Framework and the coolest new things to put on your Xmas wish lists.

I hope everyone has a great month and remembers to take some time themselves,
Kind Regards
Lisa Marie